Old classmates still have your eighth-grade file open. Don’t waste energy updating their records.

People who knew you at a particular age keep that version on file and never open the newer one. Trying to correct their picture rarely works and puts you back inside the character you were trying to leave. Their record is about their memory, not about you.

Let the outdated version stand uncorrected and spend the energy on people who are meeting you now. If someone treats you as the person you were at thirteen, notice how little you owe that reading. The proof is in how you live, and it needs no audience that already decided.