Did years alone in the cab make me bad at people?
You say you've run these lines safely for decades. That is true, and it is not nothing. Vigilance kept you alive and kept others alive. No one disputes this. But notice what you actually said. The job made you a master of solitude. You did not drift into isolation by accident. You built it, skill by skill, the same way you built your skill at the wheel. A man does not get this good at being alone without practice. This is not a flaw to confess. It is a habit to retrain. The hands that learned vigilance can learn attention to people. Nothing in your nature forbids it. Only the years of practice pointed elsewhere.
The skill that kept you safe for decades — watching, waiting, trusting no one but yourself — is the same skill that built the wall. You did not fail at connection. You trained for its opposite. Now choose to train the other muscle, with others, starting today.
What changes unlock by starting
- You catch the habit of withdrawal before you act on it.
- You have at least one honest exchange a week with someone in your pod.
- The isolation eases, though it will not vanish overnight.
- You see proof that connection is a trainable skill, like driving.