tell me or people "you've come a long way" treating it as a compliment

Excuse me, when did I seek your approval???
Plus it's so infantilizing talking to me this way. Who says I started at the very bottom?? those people who gave me this comment just happened to be the ones who had low opinions of me, and realized I could do more than they first guessed, so why should I take their blame when they couldn't assess well????
I cringe when I hear people giving this comment to others - it's so depreciating