Why do people say -"YOU HAVE CHANGED!"

Why live to please others? I mean, it’s your life. If you aren’t happy with it, what’s the use in living?.
Lately some people have said this to me. people I haven't seen in 3-4 years? many things have happened since then. I've went through rough times, grown older, and i think I've developed character, as they say. I know that sounds cliche, but really, looking back on this time, I've grown a lot and changed for better and for worse I guess.

when people say "you've changed" I don't know how to feel about it. a part of me is saddened thinking about all of the hard times I went through that has shaped me like this, and a part of me feels older and weary and unable to connect with this person. lately I've been hanging out with people,which i feel more comfortable with but there are some with whom I feel hard to connect with. i think they are great people, but I feel like life hasn't broken them in yet? (this is from a quote: life is breaking me in, but not breaking me), and i feel like in many ways they are still very sheltered . I know I am sheltered compared to older people as well.

Sometimes poeple think that the best a person can do is to be on the safer side and do what others are doing. In my case waking up at 6 in the morning, gong to school and study like any other teenager. Their must be a routine which should be followed and if not, people will think you have changed. They dont realise that people go through different experiences and learn through them differently. I do preach what I follow,though I dont have many followers just a pack of few good friends. These people don't understand that you are not like them. That you're different. That, somehow, you managed to retain one ounce of originality in this cookie cutter day and age and don't think exactly like they do.

But of course, "different" is now a bad word, isn't it?

I'm writing this because I think CHANGE is always for the better, maybe I'm the one ahead of my age or maybe behind but what I feel is that their should never be rules and regulations in life. Their should never be a routine, A time table in life, because every person knows that if he has taken decisions he should be ready to face the consequences.

It is not worth an intelligent man’s time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.