The Loneliness Epidemic and Why I’m Building Communities to Solve It
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about loneliness. Not as some abstract social issue, but as something I’ve lived through and see many around me experiencing.
Feeling lonely doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human. We evolved to be in communities.
And right now, we’re experiencing a loneliness epidemic.
Roughly 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. say they feel lonely.
Gallup found that 20% of Americans felt lonely “a lot of the day yesterday,” the highest percentage in years.
Remote workers report loneliness rates around 25%, compared to 16% for people working onsite.
Chronic loneliness increases the risk of dementia by 50%, heart disease by 29%, and stroke by 32%.
At work, loneliness quietly kills performance, creativity, and well-being.
We’ve become hyperconnected online and emotionally starved and disconnected in real life.
When I retired from elite sport, I lost something I didn’t realize I’d miss so much: the constant camaraderie, the unspoken support, the shared mission. Suddenly, the track center and banter were gone…
And when I started working from home full-time, that isolation grew.
I love my work deeply, helping founders and executives lead better, live better, and build healthy teams. Yet, some days, after hours of Zoom calls, I shut my laptop and realize I haven’t seen an actual human in the flesh that day.
I feel that absence—the absence of presence.
And if you’ve made a significant career shift or work mostly remotely, you probably know exactly what I mean.
Why I Build Communities
Loneliness thrives in silence, and the antidote isn’t more scrolling; it’s connection with intention.
That’s why I create men’s groups and founder groups.
I’ve seen what happens when we give people a space to talk about what truly matters to them.
In these rooms, you find:
Accountability without judgment
Challenge with compassion
Vulnerability met with empathy
Belonging without pretense
Men talk about what’s really going on. Founders finally get to take off the mask. And everyone leaves feeling lighter, seen, and a lot more human.
An Invitation
You're not broken if you’ve been feeling the effects of isolation, from working at home, leading a company, or going through a big life transition. You’re just missing something we are deeply wired for: community.
So build it or join it. Start small if you need to. One real conversation beats a thousand “likes.”
If you want to experience what it’s like to be in one of these groups, reach out. They’ve changed my life, and I know they can change yours, too.
Because we don’t beat loneliness with willpower.
We beat it with each other.
