Curious what everyone's actual cutoff looks like before moving a lead to the dead pile versus keeping it in a slow nurture sequence. Some people seem to hold onto leads for months just in case timing changes, others cut bait after a few unanswered touches. What's your rule of thumb, and has it changed based on deal size or industry?
Four nights into a solo trip through Wind River Range, Wyoming, I noticed something shift. The first two nights alone felt earned, like I'd finally gotten quiet enough to hear myself think. By night four the same silence started sounding like an accusation. I caught myself talking out loud to nobody, narrating dinner, negotiating with the wind.
I've done maybe a dozen solo trips since I started backpacking, and the point where solitude turns into loneliness moves every time. Sometimes it's day two, sometimes I never hit it at all. What I've noticed is it's less about how many days I'm out and more about whether I still have anything left to think about. Once I run out of problems to chew on in my head, that's when the noise creeps in.
I don't have a fix for this, I'm just curious how other people read the line. Is there a specific tell, something that happens right before solitude tips into loneliness for you? And does it hit at the same point every trip, or does it move around?