I've been told that I have changed. That I look different and act different and am different than I once was. And I hope that's true, although at times it felt as though it was a bad thing by the way I was told in hushed whispers. I'm  pretty sure God created people so that they wouldn't stay exactly the same and be a constant monotonous creation. Changing is the only way we are able to get places. We learn from the things that happened prior in life and place it like a puzzle piece into the future improving it in every retrospect. If we all stayed the same in thought and mind; how would we transition from adolescence to adulthood? Would we forever be a child with no concept of reality and live in a cloud of oblivious? Although to have morals that stay similar and to carry bits and pieces of the past is an important part of who you are, it's important to move forward from it. Experiment. Take chances. Become more of who you and your soul are meant to become as creatures roaming the depths of the earth. Every passing day that's what you are doing. Every action you make is put towards you becoming who you are meant  to be and it remains to be that way til your last breath is taken and your eyes shut for the very last time. Then your soul becomes part of the universe and this body and identity just a memory; dust left on the earth that slowly gets blown from existence until you are a collection of memories to look back on years from now when future generations  want to figure out about the past. So keep changing and take chances no matter what others around you say. You are the only person that can create the path you want to follow as a person, and what others opinions of it are shouldn't  affect you feeling more comfortable in the skin you've been given. Only you live in your body and think the thoughts that you do, embrace it. Feel the crescents in your cheeks get deeper and your smile crusade all the regions possible on your face. Grow into your skin, no matter how long it takes. Whether a day or a decade; take all the time you need.