I promise you, avoiding people who do you dirty, play the victim, make you the villain in their story to tell others, and drag your name through the mud is top tier self-care.
Unhealed trauma will sometimes give you a high tolerance threshold to emotional abuse. Just because you can handle it doesn't mean you have to tolerate it.
The older you get, the more you choose calm over chaos and distance over disrespect. Drama becomes intolerable to you, and your peace becomes your absolute priority. You start surrounding yourself with people who are good for your mental health, heart, and soul.