Somebody said to me that they really have seen a lot of positive changes in me in the past six months, seeing that I'm happier, more self-assured, etc.

My super buddy friend, L, perhaps put it best, however, "I like to think of it not so much as change, but as an awakening of those parts of ourselves that tend to suffer the trevails of times and circumstances...We are coming into our own and finding a comfort in these skins."