The thing about change is it comes on suddenly. Not to the ones who are changing, no for them it's slow; like the embers of a building fire. The burning starts at the bottom where no one but the one burning can see them. The fire may take years to build, slowly gathering heat and oxygen until a flame finally has the ability to form. But to those standing on the outside of the fire, for them it is sudden. There isn't a flame burning and then there is. They'll say things like "where did this come from" and "you were fine yesterday this is so sudden" because they never took a chance to look at the embers, to really get to understand how they move and what they're building up into. They'll try to put the fire out because they don't understand the importance of it, all they see is something big and dangerous trying to hurt their embers not understanding that the embers themselves have evolved into the fire. That the fire and the embers are one and to put one out would be to destroy the other. 

The hardest part about changing is not wanting people to see the fire. Not everyday people, everyday people don't matter, they don't affect the heat in anyway. Their opinions are like mist, while they may sting they don't last and they don't harm. No the people that truly harm the fire are those we are closest to, those that have seen you as an ember. To go from a little ember to a ranging fire isn't progress in their mind but destruction, destruction of who we were, of who they will always want us to be. And some will always adapt to the fire, learn to move around it, to avoid getting burned on its flames. Those people will do their best to stay by your side because they love you, but they'll always be distant in some way, maybe talk about you slightly different. But those who truly love you will come to love the fire you bring, the light and the heat that you shed into their lives. They'll grow and soon the embers will just be like baby photos, to look back on fondly and jokingly say "you were so cute, what happened" (because let's admit it everyone's gotten that comment at least once). Those who truly love us will never want to hurt us and those who don't truly love us don't deserve us.