When someone tells you they preferred the old you, what they're describing is a terms-of-service violation.

Somewhere in the early years, a set of expectations locked. You were legible. Predictable. Frictionless. That was the service.

The new version violates the contract, not because renegotiation was written out, but because it was never written in.

Some relationships end the contract rather than rewrite it. The structure held exactly as long as you stayed the same.