Maybe unpopular opinion but these types of articles exist to make people more dissatisfied and distract them from going after what they need. A couple PhDs don

Maybe unpopular opinion but these types of articles exist to make people more dissatisfied and distract them from going after what they need. A couple PhDs don't know what you need. They can tell you to focus on friendships, but you'd probably work less, and they don't know what your life would be like if you had less money and for example couldn't afford a car, or if you became disconnected from your work friends. In general if you have a strong work ethic at something, even if it's working toward the American Dream, you're probably doing exactly what you need to be doing. The solution isn't to get distracted by lifestyle articles and try to go foraging for friends in a cliche way, the solution is to get better at what you're working on. Sometimes that means finding a new path that fills the same void, but you're going to have a hard time until that void is filled. Usually you'll find friendships fall into place when your life is in order and has clearer direction because you find like-minded people.