We try so hard to tell family and friends we haven't changed and we're still a "good person," but isn't that just falling back into their paradigm? My experience with God has been that She doesn't care about working hard to always improve and be better, but instead to more fully discover ourselves and embrace the good and bad inextricably entwined.

Here's the link to the Huffington essay I referenced: 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/a-theology-of-sameness_b_10977266.html