Raise your standards and your circle shrinks for a while. Then it gets better.

Changing what you accept from people changes who stays, and the gap in the middle is real and genuinely uncomfortable. Some who drift off were fine company, only accustomed to a version of you that asked for less. The quiet stretch afterwards is not evidence you made a mistake. It is what the transition looks like from inside it.

Expect the lull and plan for it rather than filling it with whoever is nearest. Spend that time on something that puts you around people you would want. This usually takes months rather than years.