Dear Sara:
Certain people see you a certain way and don’t want to see anything different. So to be in a relationship with people who don’t want to see you in any way but the way they saw you before, you are pressured to be the way you were before.
For example, let’s say you used to be a person who looked up to others to tell you what to do and they liked that feeling of superiority, then you are gone for a few years, feeling confident in your ability to make good choices, you return to your home town, confident, but the people who knew you as lacking confidence don’t want to lose their feeling of superiority over you, so they may question you about your choices, trying to get back the old you.
In this example, it is a bad idea to try and please these people. The price of socializing with them is way too high.
If this example applies to you, then I say, better the people who knew you the way that you were, learn, accept and respect the changed you, or get out of your way.
Is it possible for you to make a new friend, with someone who didn’t know you before you left?
anita