Hey, I have a little experience with this thing
When I was in my twenties I was a real chump. More of a freak than a geek, but with a lot of geeky tones. I was proud of myself but was actually not very manly, insecure in many aspects and totally unable to get a girlfriend. Now in my thirties I am a man, confident of myself, and I can enter a club and approach the hotties and walk away with at least a couple numbers in a slow night, and a smoochie every now and then.
Of course, my old friends hate my guts.
They say they don't (obviously) but their actions tell other story. They try to sabotage me, they really envy me and they always are trying to put me back in my place.
Well, not of them, I've brought some of them to my new reality, and these are now cool with me, but the ones that were left behind, though on the surface seem ok with it, deep down they are bitter because I'm better and they are not. And in the moments of truth, it shows.
Why is this? Because they want the
social status quo of having everyone in their place. They want to see the old Wulfen that was shy and insecure, and it flips their switches to see the new me. Their model of the world is shattered now. They saw me as an equal before and now I'm way beyond them, and that threatens their own self-image. It's a fear based attitude, and it has given me a world of pain and disappointment.
What's the best course of action? Sometimes I've tried to change them, to make them see things as I see them now, and some have managed to do it, but many haven't. Whenever I've tried to keep contact with the ones that haven't tried changing, I've ended up regretting it. They have hurted me in many ways, from silly ones like sabotaging a pickup, to very serious ones like backstabbing me in a serious matter and then saying it's my fault because "nowadays Wulfen is so and so and thus deserves what I've done to him".
There might be a perfect solution where I access their minds and I can empathically communicate with them and make them understand the new me, but I don't want to bother. I need the energy for myself, I want to do big things and I don't need the drag. I'm dumping them. Last one has been very recent and painful, but it has to be done.
They are welcome to my reality whenever they want to, but they have to take the first step. I'm not pulling them anymore.