Pretend that the person doesn't exist...can you do that?

I also think that this is no solution to the problem at all. In my personal experience, someone just ignored me for these past one and a half years, and I would have to admit that I also ignored him. I completely acted like he doesn't exist, that I never knew him, and like we have never met before. It was just the last option for me because I tried to work things out before but it did not work. As of me, I already did my part and it was all up to him to do his part too. But it seems like he don't want to clear things out, so I guess we just settled it like this.

Of course, I'm pretty good at it! LOL Basically, whenever a certain person upsets me, I just pretend that s/he does not exist. And never even think about him/her. In that way you won't remember how upset you are with him/her. I always say there are a million ways to kill a mockingbird, one of them is to pretend it doesn't exist. Am I indifferent?, calyxus

It really depends on the situation. For some people, being ignored is their worst nightmares as they are in constant need of attention, so they would come begging to you just for a little drop of attention, no matter if you love them or hate them, it's much better than ignorance. But for a person like me, ignoring is the worst you can do as I will not give a dime about it and let's say if someone doesn't call me or doesn't contact me in any way, I'll probably give him a call or a message, but after that I move on, no hard feelings . It's pretty selfish, but it's one way of going through life without getting hurt. And after all if they really care, sooner or later they'll come to me apologizing and I'll gladly and candidly accept their apologies. Yeah, I'll probably die alone, but in one way or another we all do

I know it is not good to pretend that a person doesn't exist, but I just did that a lot of times. Whenever I had a conflict with someone, I always pretended that he/she didn't exist. When we passed through each other, I didn't even say hello or raise my hand showing my respect, but just walked away like there was nobody there. But in times, I realize that the activity was not good. Especially for an adult. =) As for me, pretending that someone doesn't exist is not a solution at all. The solution is : sit down together, discuss together, and solve the thing together. =)

yes, i can and actually did that "on and off" to someone. when u have tried all the solutions ....heart-to-heart talk or confrontation in front of work superiors and apologies that come after ... and u are still being put into a situation where ur personal right to work peacefully is at stake, i resort to ignoring the person. actually, we have one very "undesirable" type of a co-worker. no matter which office she is assigned to, she berates anybody, thinks she is superior and wiser and gets in conflict with anybody. now, because not any one office accepts her, she is assigned with us. she throws herself around, speaks of her achievements in and outside the office in a very loud voice for everyone to hear. she does not even want u to move her chair or sit on it. she knows when her things are touched and she gets angry to everyone. i have entangled with her before and as i don't want to be in that situation again, i have now ignored her (as others did). when she is around and speaks to the top of her voice, i use earphones and listen to music to cover the unpleasant noise from her. i know it is hard to do that ... not a healthy relationship with a co-worker but i just have to save myself from any further trouble with her. so i ignore her and stir away from her perimeter.

Wow it is hard to ignore someone and pretend that he never existed when in fact he is right in front of you... I considered that a talent! How could anyone do that? It is something really hard for me but yes, I am aware that some managed to do that. On my personal view, I think it is not right to ignore the person. Problem will never be solved. What, would you like to be enemy with him for the rest of your life? How long will you plan to stay that way? Having enemy is like a burden to me. It is enough to give each other a time out to cool off the issue but never treat the person as if you haven't met him or her. It is not a good thing to do.

Yes, oftentimes we encounter conflicts in a relationship or even within our circle of friends that sometimes we wished that person did not exist at all. When I am in conflict with people I know, there are times that I just pretend they did not exist but of course it's very hard to do that, but I try an effort to ignore their presence by focusing on other important things. One time I was deeply hurt with one guy that I think my mind is really to explode, of course there's nothing I can do about his insensitivity so what I did I ignored him and focus on reading and writing, and miraculously it works!and my mind seems paralyzed to even think about him.

Well, I have done for a few times. It hurts more when they are your loved ones. I did than on my used to be best friend for years. We worked at the same office, so it was kind of hard to pretended that she didn't exist, because she was right there in front of my eyes. We never reconciliated, and I moved to another town and have a new live. It was ages ago though.

Hi: As you say this doesn't make things better but sometimes you have to do this to liberate part of your frustration. That's what i do when i don't want to discuss anymore with that person and to show him/her that i don't like the way he/she's acting.