Some friends only know how to love the old you. Every time you grow, they’ll try to shrink you back to fit.

Somebody can care about you and still want you to stay the size they learned. It usually is not cruelty. The friendship had a shape, your growing changes it, and change is uncomfortable from the outside. So it comes out as teasing about your new thing, or stories about who you used to be, or the flat remark that you have changed.

Notice which friends ask questions about the new part of your life and which ones change the subject. You do not have to cut anyone off this week. Just stop shrinking on cue.