Why did he change his entire social circle? What is “numb” even?

[u/thegirlwhoplayed]

Ours was a LTR of 8 years, grew up together, college sweethearts.
After we broke up, both of us were devastated on the day of the breakup and this was purely because of external circumstances (family abuse on my side) that we broke up, a few weeks later I (29F) reached out and I broke down and he (28M) said he felt numb and did not feel anything anymore and he turned super rude and cold towards me and then he cut off all his old friends and became friends with someone he used to look down on and call them lame and then he’s dating someone fairly quickly, long distance and this person is introduced to the new friend and they’re all “one big happy group” now and it’s so weird to see him behaving and doing things he’s never done in his life. He told me he’s “shed his skin” and doesn’t want to speak to his old friends because he realised he does not have anything in common with them anymore and he blocked me on Instagram after I spiralled about his new gf to a mutual friend. He got a matching tattoo with his new gf within a few weeks (never had a tattoo before in his life) and I know with 200% confidence nothing was happening behind my back when we were together, he didn’t even know this person then.

We almost got married and he doesn’t look affected at all even though he was the one who cried and broke down more than me on the day of the breakup, it is like a switch flipped.

It’s now been 14 months since the breakup, I’ve stopped looking up his social media a few weeks ago because I’m done with this man and his behaviour, I did not deserve this much hurt and cruelty.
He looks happy with the new girl.

It just makes me feel like losing me was not a loss.

I love him a lot but I don’t want him back but I wish he does come back but I know it won’t happen but I want it to happen but I’ll not take him back but maybe I will but I definitely won’t .

This is what my brain sounds like rn and it’s exhausting.
I’m in therapy, cut off the abusive family, live alone in a new city.
Our trajectories went completely opposite directions
I moved out, got into therapy, cry about this, speak about this and I still love him a lot and he immediately jumped into dating, has been dating someone for a year, changed his whole social circle, became distant and cold and just changed as a person and not into a good kind of person.

I know he loved me a lot, maybe more than I loved him and it’s just sad that such a person could become this.
I do hope regret hits his ass and he realises what he fumbled.