Ever wonder why you can easily forget a compliment, but that one mean comment or toxic person lives rent-free in your head for weeks, months, or even years?
"Your brain treats unresolved emotional conflict and toxic behavior as an active survival threat."
This is driven by the Negativity Bias. When someone is bad to you, your brain's alarm system (the amygdala) activates. It forces you to replay the interaction over and over, trying to figure out how to defend against it next time. It's trying to protect you, but instead, it traps you in a loop of rumination.
How to fix it
Your brain doesn't actually need an apology from them, and it doesn't need them to understand why they were wrong. It just needs to feel like you have stood up for yourself and defended your boundaries.
By getting your thoughts out here—saying everything you wish you had said—you signal to your brain that the threat has been handled. You close the loop, the alarm turns off, and you finally get your peace of mind back.