Gabriel Mizrahi

The advice is basically, if anyone hurts you or challenges you or inconveniences you in any way, cut them off.

Like, don't look back, which is, of course, absurd.

To be fair, your noodle choice does say a lot about your personality, but I digress.

Hard agree.

That does very little, if anything, to strengthen our muscles for healthy conflict, to increase our capacity for this kind of difference in injury and repair.

Yes, which is essential if you want to be a functional human being.

Essential and also very rewarding.

I mean, this is actually what makes me the saddest about this whole cutting people off for no reason thing, like what his brother seems to be doing to him.

He's not just making things harder for his family.

He's also missing one of the most beautiful experiences in life, in my view, which is being close with someone you love, even when there's a problem between you and growing through that and coming to understand yourself and the other person better.

and then enjoying a deeper relationship as a result.

That's so hard, but that is so crucial.

So if we're at a point where family members are cutting one another off regularly, then yeah, I think something is very wrong.

But what we've been getting at here is even if you're blameless in this situation, even if this is the lady's fight to resolve, or your stepbrother is being avoidant, it would still benefit you to be curious about his reasons for ghosting you, even if they don't really hold up, because that will get you closer to the resolution you're hoping for.

That's right, because that might also be a reflection of his family's whole way of dealing with conflict as well.

All right, what's next?

Hey, Jordan and Gabe.

I wanted to reach out after listening to your Skeptical Sunday episode on testosterone replacement therapy.

I'm 41 years old and had been on TRT for about a year.

After a period of unemployment, I returned to working as a firefighter temporarily.