Matt Weiner on rising from poverty

"Everyone loves the Horatio Alger version of life. What they don’t realize is that these transformations begin in shame, because poverty feels shameful. It shouldn’t, but everyone who’s experienced it confirms this. Sometimes people say, I didn’t know we were poor ..."

That is very perceptive. And it's true of any transformation of the self: it will begin (or began) in shame. You can easily forget that and, supposing you don't, there will be no shortage of others willing you to forget.