When Growth Makes People Uncomfortable
And why the silence around you isn’t always accidental.
You’d think stepping into your leadership would be the moment people clap.
But sometimes, the higher you rise, the quieter it gets.
Not because you’ve changed.
But because your direction, your clarity, your momentum -
touch something they haven’t touched in themselves.
They were fine when you were struggling.
Asking. Waiting.
But now? You’re harder to place. Maybe too much. Maybe too sure.
Sometimes the discomfort comes from the gap you’ve exposed -
between where you are and where they’re not.
It’s not always jealousy.
It’s their own questions. Their own inertia.
But when you’re leading, it doesn’t matter what the reason is.
You just feel it.
Support, apparently, has conditions.
There’s a version of you they were comfortable with.
The one who didn’t take up too much space.
Who edited her tone.
Who asked for feedback before making a move.
But this version?
The one who knows what she’s doing?
Who moves without a round of validation?
She’s unsettling.
So what do you do with the silence?
You can soften.
Shrink.
Make yourself easier to be around again.
Or -
You can accept it.
Let it sting.
And lead anyway.
The hardest part isn’t losing applause.
It’s the doubt that creeps in when things go quiet.
The weight of wondering if you’re too much.
If sharing what’s real - your progress, your difficulty, your truth - will be misunderstood.
But it’s not even about appearing arrogant.
It’s not about the noise.
It’s about how a simple gesture of support - a question, a message, a “this makes sense” could let you fly a little easier.
Not because you need it to move.
But because we don’t build alone, even when it looks like we do.
And still - when you grow, it raises the question:
Is this taking something away, or adding something to the whole?
Isn’t movement, clarity, and becoming more of who we are something that should benefit everyone?
Shouldn’t it be better for the team, the space, the relationship - when one of us rises?
Have you ever felt someone pull back just when you started to step forward?
Let me know in the comments - or don’t. Either way, you’re not imagining it.
And you’re not wrong for growing.