I never allow anyone else to put me down

Most insults bounce. The ones that stick are the ones that were already in the building.

Somebody says a thing offhand at work and it stays with you for four days, and the reason is not that they were unusually perceptive. It is that they happened to say out loud a thing you had been carrying privately for years, and hearing it in someone else's voice felt like confirmation.

Worth knowing, because it changes what needs attention. Not them. The version you had already drafted and were keeping in a drawer, waiting for a stranger to sign.