Getting Discomfortable with Proto-Friends

Proto-Friends Inspired by another recent Twitter conversation, this episode looks at the concept of a “proto-friend”, someone you feel certain you would really connect with if only you had the chance. The Twitter discussion reminded me of a special proto-friend I made at World Domination Summit over the last two years and the surprising impact that non-friendship had on me. I met Craig when he hosted an LGBTQ+ mixer meet-up at my first WDS in 2018, but I got a weird vibe from him that he didn’t really like me. He seemed aloof and disinterested, even though I fancied myself a cute, new gay on the scene. Feeling implicitly rejected, I created an enemy image of Craig and kept my distance. But in 2019, at the very same mixer, I discovered that Craig was actually this really sweet guy and I slowly realized that I had allowed myself to spiral down a shame rabbit hole the year before and had therefore completely misjudged the situation and him! And though I barely knew him, I felt like we actually had a potential connection and I saw him as a good candidate for the elusive holy grail of platonic gay friendship. Perhaps as a penance for my mistake, I made it my conscious intention to attempt to befriend Craig at the next WDS this summer…