Ignore It Till It Goes Away and Why That Never Works
It’s right there. There. Right there.
That was a clip from that little inside voice. You know the one, it’s always antagonizing us, with its persistence. It always seems to be most common, when we are trying not to think about something. That’s when it chatters the most.
Ignoring it till it goes away is one way to quell the chatter. Also thinking of something else helps, if it’s possible. But ignoring it works immediately. Then sometime later, it is gone.
Not really gone, just out of mind. It’s right there in plain sight, but if ignored, then it’s out of sight, too. So the reasoning is out of sight, out of mind. It’s something to think about, kind of like the elephant in the room.
I remember the first time I heard the expression, the elephant in the room. I was young, and it was confusing because as far as I could tell, there was no elephant nearby. In the room or otherwise. Years later, and much time is spent ignoring that elephant, sometimes.
Elephants might be possible to ignore. It probably depends on their mood, to some extent. But there are some things that it is just best not to ignore. Mainly because ignoring it could make it worse. For example, a rattlesnake laying across the sidewalk getting some sun, shouldn’t be ignored. Yikes! Watch your step.
That’s an extreme example but covers the point. Not everything should, or can be ignored, in the hopes it will just go away. That seldom works with toothaches. Or hurricanes. And never with alligators.
This topic is a good one to expand on in future posts. Which probably means it won’t be going away just yet.