There’s a special kind of pain that comes from being hurt by someone who walks away as if nothing happened. No explanations. No conversation. No apology. Just silence, the kind that echoes louder than any argument ever could. Most people talk about heartbreak, betrayal, or disappointment. But no one really talks about how confusing it is to heal from something you never got closure for. How do you let go of something that was never acknowledged in the first place? What hurts the most isn’t always what they did. It’s the fact that they acted like it didn’t matter.
When “Sorry” Never Came
Some people leave marks on us without ever realising or admitting the damage they caused. Maybe it was a friend who drifted away right when you needed them. Maybe it was someone who lied, used you, or broke your trust. Maybe it was a person who made you feel small, insecure, or not enough and then acted like you were the problem. And the worst part? They move on. They laugh. They live their life effortlessly. Meanwhile, you’re left replaying everything in your head, wondering why they couldn’t give you the basic respect of an apology. Wondering if you deserved that kind of treatment. You didn’t, but your mind keeps going back anyway.
The Unfair Truth
Some people will never apologise, not because they’re unaware, but because it’s easier for them not to. Accountability requires honesty. It requires them to see themselves clearly. Not everyone has the courage to do that. Some people simply cannot admit they were wrong. Some people genuinely believe their actions were justified. And some people know they hurt you, but they don’t care enough to fix it. As unfair as it feels, their apology is not something you can force, demand, or wait for. Healing doesn’t begin when they say “sorry.” Healing begins when you accept that they never will.
Learning to Live Without Closure
Closure is a luxury most people don’t get. The world teaches us to expect tidy endings: a conversation, a reconciliation, a mutual understanding. But real life rarely works that way. Sometimes you heal in the chaos, not the clarity.
Healing, in this case, looks different:
It’s giving yourself answers they never gave.
It’s accepting the truth you didn’t want to believe.
It’s closing the chapter on your own terms.
You don’t need their apology to move on. You need your own decision to stop reopening the wound.
The Emotional Weight You Carry
People who hurt you and walk away leave you carrying emotions they should have dealt with. Anger. Confusion. Shame. Self-doubt. Questions that feel like they’ll never end.
Why wasn’t I enough?
Why didn’t they care?
Why didn’t they fight to fix it?
But here’s the real truth, it was never about your worth. It was about their capacity. Some people simply aren’t capable of giving what you needed. Not care, not attention, not honesty. And their inability is not your flaw.
Forgiving Yourself First
We always talk about forgiving others, but the hardest part is forgiving ourselves:
For staying too long.
For ignoring the red flags.
For giving too many chances.
For trusting blindly.
For believing their words instead of their actions. You don’t have to forgive them first. Forgive yourself, for not knowing better at the time.
You weren’t stupid.
You were hopeful.
And that is never a weakness.
Rebuilding Without Them
The beautiful thing about healing is that it doesn’t depend on them at all. Your life doesn’t pause until someone finally decides to do the bare minimum.
Rebuilding means:
Putting your energy back into yourself.
Choosing people who choose you back.
Creating boundaries that protect your peace.
Learning that love shouldn’t hurt this much. Realising that the apology you deserved was never going to come. And that’s okay. You don’t need someone’s “sorry” to start again.
One Day, It Won’t Hurt the Same
There will come a day when you think about what happened and it won’t sting anymore. Not because you forgot but because you outgrew the version of you who needed their apology to feel whole. Healing doesn’t erase the past. It just removes its power over you. And when that happens, you’ll realise something important: You didn’t need them to say, “I’m sorry.” You just needed to be free. In the end, the closure you were waiting for wasn’t supposed to come from them. It was meant to come from the moment you finally chose yourself.
