How Long Are You Gonna Ignore Me?
- Brainz Magazine
- Nov 10
- 6 min read
Manuel Aragon is an entrepreneur out of Colorado with a deep background in business, Tax Prep, advisory, and planning. Has served as a CFO, Operations Manager, Finance Director, and Consultant.
This question I pose isn’t being hurled across a crowded room to a distant person or yelled at a negligent system. It is a whisper rising from the quietest, most protected chamber of my own heart, directed squarely at us.
Humanity, the collective ‘us,’ are masters of this grand performance. We build entire civilizations on the art of looking busy, looking successful, and, most crucially, looking unbothered. We are brilliant engineers of distraction, creating magnificent, shiny shields to deflect the one thing we fear the most, the raw, exposed truth of our own inner calling, the voice that asks, “How long are you gonna ignore me?” This is the voice of your truest self that is aching, yearning, and deeply, terribly tired of waiting.
This is an inventory, an audit of the things we hide, the things we mask, and the fundamental desires we suppress in the frantic hustle to maintain the illusion of control.
The weight of the invisible aches
I ask, what is the 'Me' that is asking to be seen? It’s the constellation of hurts, aches, and anxieties that we meticulously sweep under the rug every morning. It’s the dull, constant hum of unresolved emotional pains, the sting of a childhood rejection, the betrayal of broken promises, the gnawing anxiety that we are fundamentally not enough.
We don't just endure these hurts, we work tirelessly to render them invisible. We develop sophisticated camouflage. Some of us mask the ache with busyness, filling every second of every day with tasks, meetings, and commitments until there is no possible moment left for simple, quiet reflection. The logic is simple, if we don’t stop moving, the pain can’t catch up.
Instead, we mask it with consumption. We buy the things we think will fix the emptiness, another car, another piece of clothing, another high-end experience that provides a fleeting spike of dopamine, only to leave the original void feeling slightly larger and leave us more in debt. The substance is interchangeable, alcohol, endless social media scrolling, aggressive goal-setting, or performative perfectionism, the list goes on. All of these are highly efficient tools for keeping the internal conversation muted. We have turned our lives into elaborate, expensive soundproofing systems, dedicated entirely to muffling the voice we hear within.
But silence is not healing. The more we cover up, the heavier the mask becomes, weighing down our shoulders, dulling the senses, and leaving us perpetually exhausted. We carry the weight of our unacknowledged past, trying to outrun it with the momentum of our manufactured present.
The flaws we fear and ignore & the performance of perfection
We are taught early that flaws are liabilities, not simply parts of the human condition. We view our imperfections, our irrational anxieties, our moments of jealousy, our occasional laziness, our deeply held self-doubt, as structural weaknesses in our character, the cracks that, if exposed, will lead to the collapse of our entire identity.
So, we become method actors in our own lives, maintaining a flawless persona built on a foundation of precarious, repressed truths. This performance is costly. Imagine the sheer cognitive load required to never let your true opinion slip, to always present the polished, edited version of success, to flawlessly execute the required societal rituals of optimism and resilience, even when our inner world is in chaos.
Our biggest flaw isn't an imperfection of character, it’s cowardice, the refusal to admit our dependence on others and the insecurity that drives us to compare. We hide behind curated social media feeds, professional titles, and walls of witty sarcasm because the terrifying alternative is admitting, “I don’t know what I’m doing,” or “I need help,” or, most vulnerable of all, “I am afraid that if you see the real me, you will leave.” That one will sting any ego to admit out loud.
The moment we choose to believe that our worth is conditional, contingent upon achieving a specific body, title, income, or relationship status, we sign the contract for perpetual fear. We ensure that the only part of us that is ever truly loved is the perfect character we play, leaving the flawed, messy, magnificent real person screaming from the inner soul. This fear of being seen is so intense that we choose the loneliness of the mask over the terrifying, but ultimately liberating, exposure of the true self.
The internal desires: The voice of what truly matters
The deepest tragedy of ignoring the self is that we don’t just bury the pain, we bury the powerful, inherent desires that give life its true meaning. These are the core feelings of the soul, the silent pleadings of the ‘Me’ that are being ignored.
We have these natural desires not just for success, but for sustainability. We want a pace of life that allows us to watch the rain fall without calculating the monetary cost of the lost minutes. We desire genuine rest, not just collapse, rest that recharges the spirit, not just the body. We hide this desire because our culture equates rest with weakness and productivity with virtue. To admit we need to slow down feels like admitting failure in a world optimized for speed.
We crave belonging over fleeting approval. The sad truth is, approval is transactional, it is given when you perform correctly and fall in line with social norms. Belonging is unconditional, it is the feeling of home, no matter how messy that looks. We’ve replaced true community with networks of mutually beneficial acquaintances, prioritizing professional utility over soul-deep friendship. We want to sit with the crowd to have the validation of “I made it.” The ignored self craves the simple, profound relief of being in a room where you don’t have to impress anyone. Where does this start, and how do we change it?
Most critically, the ignored self craves meaning, the real sense that our external life contributes something authentic and meaningful to the world, beyond the metrics of profit or status. This often manifests as a desire for genuine creativity, hands-on work, or quiet, unseen service. We suppress this desire, folding it away with the simple, devastating thought, “I don’t have time for that,” or “That’s impractical.” We trade the deep, internal satisfaction of meaning for the hollow, external validation of money and power.
Every time we choose the safe, predictable path of the mask over the difficult, risky path of authenticity, the internal voice asks again, this time a little louder, “How long are you gonna ignore me?!”
The invitation to reckoning
This is not a cry of condemnation, it is a desperate plea for internal recognition. We are running out of time to reconcile the person we pretend to be with the person we are. The exhaustion we feel, the anxiety that wakes us at 3 a.m., the dull sense of futility that sometimes washes over us, these are not random ailments. They are the symptoms of a self that is being systematically starved and silenced, and sometimes we do this on purpose.
To stop ignoring this part of us is not an act of selfishness, it is an act of self-preservation that benefits everyone around us. A person who is internally aligned is a gentler partner, a more patient parent, a more genuine friend, and a far more effective contributor to the world.
This shift begins not with a grand gesture, but with quiet admission. It starts when you look in the mirror and acknowledge the tired eyes, the faint lines of worry, and the real mind flickering with hope beneath them. It starts by sitting down and allowing yourself five minutes of silence without reaching for your phone, your work, or comfort food. It starts by identifying one ache you’ve been masking, one flaw you’ve been concealing, and one genuine desire you’ve been ignoring.
Our true self is patient, but it is not silent. It will not wait forever. It is waiting for the elaborate, cumbersome performance to end so that real life can finally begin. It’s uncomfortable breaking character when that’s all we have known.
My internal voice screams again, How long are you gonna ignore me?! My final answer is not another minute more. How long will you ignore the true you?
Read more from Manuel Aragon
Manuel Aragon, Tax Consultant & Advisory Planner
Manuel Aragon has elite expertise in tax preparation, accounting, finance, cash planning, and tax strategy. Manuel has delivered modern, innovative financial solutions, driving growth and efficiency to multiple companies in Colorado. His leadership and approach have solidified a reputation for excellence, onboarding, and overall client satisfaction. Continues to serve in multiple roles across the front range as a Tax Preparer, CFO, Operations Manager, Finance Director, and Consultant.
