New friends only know the current version of you. That’s a gift. You don’t have to explain every old update.

Old friends carry a file on you and some of it is out of date. A new person meets whoever walked in the door today, with none of the stories about ninth grade attached. That blank space can feel like a lie, but it is closer to a clean page. You are not hiding your past by declining to narrate it.

When you meet somebody new, notice the urge to explain your whole history up front. You can let that urge pass. Share what is true now and let the older chapters come up later if they ever need to.