Does your past ever come back and knock the wind out of you?

I am a happy person. I just finished up a second degree, and am finally healthy after a personal battle with health issues this year. I am with a great guy, after breaking up with my ex of six years about a year ago. Today, someone I haven’t seen in a long time brought up my past year to see how I was doing. Not that he did it on purpose, but he wanted to see if I was doing better after a tough year. I thought I was at a point where these things didn’t bother me anymore, but after he left it seriously got me down. Even though I am prolly the happiest I’ve been in years, mentioning some of these painful things from my past really hurt. I am wondering how long those scars take to heal….does anyone else feel a twinge of pain when something is mentioned from their past? If so, did it ever go away, or did it always hurt a bit?