As December draws to a close, it’s time for my annual summary of this year’s posts. What started as making the case for 2025 as ‘The Year for Better Male Friendships’ evolved into a broader examination of why men are struggling. Drawing on excerpts from my book, Get Out of Your Man Cave: The Crisis of Male Friendship, I described how men live, relate, heal, and grow. The common thread through every post—whether focused on friendship, health, faith, or modern pressures—led to a single conviction: Men are not meant to do life alone.
That belief leads me to ask for your help in connecting with others who share my vision of deeper, more authentic male friendships. This summary explains why men need to surround themselves with higher-quality men, who help each other become better men. They become better husbands, fathers, workers, and neighbors, so we can reverse the troubling trends that show boys and men are falling behind in education, employment, and health. Better men have better families, where everyone can succeed.
The Friendship Crisis We Rarely Name
Early posts such as The Life-Stages of Friendships, No Time for Friends, and Male Disengagement from the Real World exposed a troubling reality: many men lose meaningful friendships as life progresses. Careers intensify, families grow, routines harden, and relationships quietly fade. Add the pull of the virtual world —addressed in The Effect of the Virtual World on Boys and Men, and we see how easily digital connection replaces real presence, leaving men isolated even though they have many “acquaintances.”
I explained how Men Do Friendships Differently Than Women. Posts like The Barriers to Male Friendship and Why Men Lose Friends, further validated that claim. Others like Masks Hinder Male Friendship and Don’t Be “That Guy” challenged the emotional armor men wear—self-reliance, busyness, humor—that protects them from being honest, vulnerable, and accountable.
Personal Struggles with Work, Identity, and Loss
Other posts demonstrate that a better friendship does not exist in a vacuum. Stories like My Work-Life “UN-balance” Story revealed how over-identifying with work can quietly erode relationships, health, and self-awareness. Others addressed the internal battles men rarely articulate: depression, mid-life transitions, physical and mental health struggles. Why Men Hide Their Pain and Is The Mid-Life Crisis Dead? reframed these issues not as weaknesses, but as danger zones that need deeper attention.
Other reflections carried particular weight. Remembering Chris Davolos stood as a reminder that a lost friendship is deeply personal. It reminds us that presence matters, time matters, family relationships matter, and male friendships matter. It matters now, not later.
The theme of authenticity continued in The Secret to Overcoming Life’s Challenges? Higher-Quality Friendships, where the focus shifted from quantity to depth. The question was no longer “How many friends do I have?” but “Who really knows me—and who am I walking with?”
From Friendship to Brotherhood: The GodBuddy Vision
As the year progressed, the focus sharpened on what I believe is the best type of friendship. Posts like The Friendships Men Have Now (and the One They Need!) and Every Man Needs Helpers reframed friendship not as casual companionship, but something better. It becomes an intentional relationship between men who seek to become more Christ-like, which I call being GodBuddies.
Through a series of posts, I laid out the Principles and Traits of a GodBuddy Friendship. These are not a rote checklist, but a framework for developing a meaningful connection with other guys. I described that most male friendships begin by Finding Commonality and Building Chemistry. In some cases, friends may begin Developing Trust and Establishing Confidentiality. Sometimes, better friendships are sustained with Vulnerability, Authenticity, and Transparency. Additional practices such as Non-judgmental Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Unconditional Love, Confrontation, Confession, and Accountability, Loyalty and Dependability, and Patience and Kindness are also present in better friendships.
However, my GodBuddy theory is that spiritual depth and faith practices create the best type of friendship. It involves Prayer, Support, and Encouragement, and the Desire to Learn and Study for Improvement. These are elements that help men become more godly men who learn to follow Jesus.
Practical Steps Toward Better Friendships
Several additional posts moved deliberately toward action. How to Develop Better Friendships, Taking Stock of Your Friendships, and Identifying Potential GodBuddies encouraged men to evaluate where they are—and where they want to go, with their friendships with other guys.
GodBuddy friendships don’t happen accidentally; they are built and invested in. Subsequent posts focused on formation and growth. Finding a Bond with Another Man, How to Deepen and Sharpen Your Friendship, and How to Strengthen Your Friendship suggested that strong friendships require time, intention, and patience.
The three-part series Proceed with Caution: Opposite Gender Friendships (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) added necessary nuance, recognizing the value and complexity of male-female relationships, while reaffirming the unique role women play in a man’s life.
Most importantly, Wives: Encourage Your Husband to Make Friends because men often feel guilty (or tend to avoid) making time for friends. That post included the perspectives of three wives who described the benefits of their husbands’ friendships for their marriages, children, and communities.
One Man’s Voice—Many Men’s Stories
For the last part of the year, I launched One Man’s Voice: A New Series about the Issues Men Face. These pieces didn’t just provide my perspective: they brought everything together.
Several posts on Blood Pressure Management and Male Depression, preceded a set of “Movember” posts that explained why Men’s Health Month Matters to Everyone. I then highlighted some of the biggest concerns for men: Mental Health and Suicide Awareness, Prostate Cancer, and Testicular Cancer.
This short series reminded us that avoidance is too easy for men. Navigating health scares, emotional fatigue, relational drift, isolation, faith questions, and cultural pressures can be deadly. We need encouragement to speak up, seek help, and stay engaged in becoming the mature men our world needs.
Facing the Modern Threats
The lens of the One Man’s Voice concluded with Avoiding Gossip, The Dangerous Spiral of Sports Gambling, and The (Friendship) Problem with Ai. These posts addressed modern threats that destroy trust and ruin reputations, create a false dopamine rush, and provide artificial intimacy that quietly replaces real connection for men. These posts asked hard questions:
- What happens when convenience replaces commitment? Can algorithms replace accountability?
- When does entertainment numb the very pain that friendship is meant to heal? Are your hidden addictions relieving your pains or reducing your stress?
- When will people realize you live behind a mask that hides who you really are? After your addiction to gambling, pornography, drugs, or alcohol is exposed? Or when it’s too late, after you have attempted suicide due to your struggle with loneliness?
The year culminated with a post, Actually, The Voices of Two Men, about my appearance on the Linking Shields podcast and the importance of brotherhood. Host Warren Mainard and I discussed why men need a band of brothers for honest conversations about their struggles, and how vulnerability and accountability can help each other become better men.
Looking Ahead
As I reflect more on this past year, I recognize that there are no easy answers or a perfect framework that helps men develop better friendships. If we learned anything, it is this: better male friendships are not optional; they are essential.
The reality is that too many males of all ages: boys, young guys, and even older men, are struggling. We need more men who choose connection over isolation. Men who learn how to lead and love. More men who know how to endure hardship and experience joy. Men who know they aren’t perfect, but are willing to become better men.
So as you look to the year ahead, the invitation remains open. Be intentional. Take stock of your acquaintances. Be courageous and reach out to another man you admire. Take the risk and remove your mask. Give him permission to hold you accountable. Choose depth over distance. Develop your band of brothers, a personal board of directors, an accountability group, or a small group of GodBuddies. Whatever you call them, just don’t do life alone. Become part of something better—the deeper, more authentic friendships that help you become a better man.
