Ignoring Isn't a Solution

Having good role models while growing up is important, because you are able to learn in a way that can be beneficial for your life. Bad role models teach you as well, though whether it turns out to be useful or not all depends on your specific circumstances and how you handle with what you learn.

There are a lot of things I wished I would have learned at an earlier age that could have been helpful in my life. Things I had to find out for myself that, many times, came too late. One of these is that ignoring problems does not make them go away. They just fester and can become a permanent scar.

My father had a way of ignoring things. It was amazing, really, I remember it happened even from the littlest things up to the largest. He was perpetually late, and whenever we were running late for something he would completely ignore the reality of it, look at the clock, see it says 3:25pm while we are on our way for a 3:30pm appointment and still 20 minutes away, and just say gleefully - we aren't late yet! This somehow let him ignore the repercussions of being late.

Then there were larger things, like the risk we would lose our house or his impending trial and legal troubles. These are things he would swiftly ignore and pretend that they didn't exist. A point would come when he could no longer do so, and then he would simply run away from the problem or continue to pretend that it didn't exist.

This wasn't a good role model for being successful in life. When you are young and impressionable, the things your parents do make an impact on you and you can take up habits and traits, good and bad.

The bad habit of ignoring things is something that took a hold of me for many years and was one I struggled to break free from.

Ignoring things is never an answer, even if it is the easy thing to do in the moment. This is something I am grateful I finally learned, and something I teach my own children.