Why does rejection hurt so much?

Because even at your best, you're still not good enough for someone for reasons you might not even be able to change or in some cases, willing to change, the best you can do is suck it up and move on.

Well, you can't be disappointed if you don't invest yourself heavily in the outcome in the first place. :u https://i.imgur.com/ZIDT3fJ.jpg Though in all seriousness, yeah rejection sucks for everyone. Nobody wants to deal with that even if it's a relationship they barely have anything invested into. The last time I was flat out rejected I was mainly just embarrassed for a few hours and then I forgot about it later on that day. It still sucked though and I'll admit that I don't really feel like putting myself into those situations where a rejection would hurt more than just me being embarrassed at myself for a bit. So ultimately I just stay away from investing myself too much into a single person. It's the best form of self-preservation for me.