Stay In Your Lane
As you grow in life, you have to learn to leave people behind. The idea of keeping the same friends is romantic. It looks good too. But it carries a fatal flaw that most people overlook. Your rise in stature also reveals your evolution in thinking, in your priorities, in your overall mindset. If the same evolution is missing in your friends, if they refuse to grow, you will notice a gap in the connection.
This gap is often misread as arrogance. About money. About class. About stature. But sometimes it's also about the evolution in thinking. You absorb the mindset of the circle you spend the most time with. There's nothing wrong with keeping old friends, as long as the friend is on the path of evolution. He can think differently from you, but he has to be on the journey.
I am not against loyalty. It's the most valuable trait in a human being. But loyalty lies in helping a friend rise in life, not in staying down with him. If you really care about your friend, you will also help him do well in life. Accompanying him in misery is you living in nostalgia to feel grateful for your present. It's foolish.
When you have arrived at a certain level in life, you also need to remind yourself to stay in that lane. Operate only in that lane. You can show kindness to people who are below you in stature, but you cannot befriend them. Don't mistake this for treating people badly. Treat them like your peers: be courteous, acknowledge their existence. What you cannot do is share your life with them.
A CEO appears kinder when he listens to an employee's grievance, engages with him like an equal. But the same CEO will not look good if he constantly mingles with an employee. He will only be respected if he stays in his lane, even if people gossip about him behind his back. He cannot be seen responding to that gossip, because that would be punching down.
It is tempting to mingle with people below you so you can appear smarter. They naturally respect your authority. So you feel you should engage with them more since you are respected. But such respect lies in its scarcity. They will judge you by how much value you place on your time and your peers.
You have to be ruthless enough in life to eliminate the people who refuse to evolve with you. Nostalgia only looks good in a moment of sadness. Most of the time, it does you no good. Be kind and courteous to everyone you meet. But stay in your fucking lane.