People Don’t Want You to Change

When you are doing the same things as other people, to similar levels of success, there is little animosity others feel towards you. As soon as you start individually changing to act differently, perform different habits, or go about life in different ways, those who are still doing the same things begin to hold negative feelings. Jealousy and resentment are emotions of human nature and people do not like seeing someone else, who used to be in their shoes, doing better than they are.

If you are not careful, you can very easily fall back into who and what you were before. There is a reason drug addicts or alcoholics tend to relapse if they hang around the same people before they went sober. Their old environments and old associates bring them back to what they were. With times of individual change, it becomes an almost necessity to change your environment in order to foster a healthy environment to continue. You do not want to be in a situation where the people you hang out with are making fun of you for being different than “the old you.”

During these periods of change, it is common to see your group of people vastly shrink based on an alignment of interests. Most people do not want you to change, those that do will vocally, mentally, and physically support your endeavors in genuine ways. It is also during this time that people you thought you were close to can show their true colors. If jealousy and other negative emotions seem to surround a person every time you see them, your relationship with them may need to be visited and decided upon. The important thing to realize is if you truly want to change, it should be fairly obvious who in your life you can count on.

Support systems are inherently important during these periods. Support systems help give you affirmations that what you are doing is the right, or wrong thing, while also holding you accountable. Your support system will generally be comprised of like-minded individuals for people who have a genuine interest in your success. Change is possible alone, but having a core group of people in your corner helps make the journey easier. Changing yourself for the better is an unpopular choice. If that is the choice you make, do not let people walking the “common” choice bring you back.