It seems like a good strategy to ignore something that is not your concern but we fail to acknowledge that the act of ignoring saps energy, too.
You can attempt to block out the crying child at the next table but your focus remains on that instead of your conversation. You can try to forget about the task your colleague should be doing but isn’t, but it likely never leaves your mind. You can work to avoid thinking about that blunder you made but ruminating will take up more mental space than what is in front of you. You can tell yourself that you’ll forget about that thing you could have done but didn’t, but you can’t completely let it go. I try to ignore when the dogs are barking but can never fully concentrate until I get up and see what is causing the commotion.
It’s hard to truly ignore something without it lurking in the back of your consciousness. The more you try to forget about it, the more brainpower you deplete. Far better to address something head-on instead of pretending to let it go.
