Intimacy isn’t like a skill.
People say,
“Relationships take practice.”
Sure.
But it’s not like picking up a guitar again after 10 years.
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee can step back in,
fumble a bit,
run scales,
get their fingers back…
And the guitar just sits there.
Patient.
Neutral.
Unaffected.
It doesn’t feel neglected.
It doesn’t close down.
It doesn’t test you.
But intimacy?
That’s alive.
You don’t “pause” it.
You abandon it.
And when you come back…
you’re not picking up where you left off—
you’re meeting whatever grew in the absence.
Distance.
Resentment.
Walls.
Withdrawal.
Silence.
Or sometimes…
a quiet ache that says:
“Are you really here this time?”
Skills wait for you.
People don’t.
They adapt.
They protect.
They change.
So yeah—intimacy takes practice.
But not the kind where you disappear for a while.
It’s a living thing.
And it knows when you’ve been gone.