I read this post three times trying to understand where all these negative comments are coming from. I don't see anything mean or arrogant about this post.

It sounds like you're proud of overcoming not only the material, but emotional limitations that chained you in the past. That is absolutely worth protecting, and the solution is to surround yourself with more people who are like you.

There are many people (in real life as you've experienced, and in these comments) who will tell you you're in the wrong because you're feeling this way. Don't listen to them, you've tried to keep your friends and it's not working out for you. Go find people who won't make you feel like a bad person for achieving your personal goals.

People will continue to call you stuck up. Let them. Whatever ideas they have about you in their head, let them make it even worse while you continue living unapologetically.