I can only speak for myself, but I believe I changed radically. I’ve been a fearful, lying alcoholic, and now I am a forthright, honest sober man. I used to loath my sexuality, and now I revel in it. I have faced the specter of mental illness, and now I no longer let it define me. It’s simply a part of who I am.
I changed.
It didn’t happen overnight, but then I didn’t get the negative qualities mentioned above quickly. Recovery took time. I know that people can change. It takes a life-altering event to spur it on, though. Most people are too complacent to undertake the massive upheaval that is change.