I. Distance yourself from those in your life who constantly remind you of who you used to be, despite how hard you have worked to learn, and grow, and become a better human being.
II. Maybe you will never get back to the person you used to be. But maybe that is okay. Maybe that is something to celebrate, something to embrace, because who you were is a version of yourself that exists in the past. A version of yourself that didn't go through the heartbreak or the hardship; a version of yourself that did not have to navigate all of the ways in which life was trying to weather it Who you were is a version of yourself that didn't have to fight their way out of the dark, that didn't have to deal with the things that caused change to crack within the soul of you — and those things transform a human being.
Maybe you will never be reintroduced to that version of yourself. Maybe you will never get back to who you were. Maybe that version of yourself has evolved, has grown, into who you were meant to be at this moment in time. Maybe you have to lay down that expectation, maybe you have to release that comparison, and instead, maybe you have to trust in the lessons, and the ways in which the world has asked you to stretch towards your becoming. Maybe you have to stop looking backwards.
Molting is the process by which a snake routinely casts off its skin to facilitate new growth, and sometimes life forces you to do the same. Sometimes, life challenges you to shed relationships, and ideals, and the old versions of yourself that no longer serve you. So when you feel like you are not the same person, when you feel like you have unraveled, like you have evolved into someone you do not recognize, maybe that is something to honor. You have transitioned, you have transformed, and life will ask you to do so time and time again as you journey through it. Do not fear your evolution. Claim it.