Don’t forget the friends who were there before it looked like you’d make it. They believed without proof.

Belief that arrives before evidence is a different substance from belief that follows results. The people who took you seriously when there was nothing to point at were choosing to, and they were choosing you rather than your record. That does not happen the same way once you are visible.

Keep those friendships in your ordinary week, not only in your good months. Tell one of them specifically what their early belief did for you. People often have no idea they were holding something up.