Opinions today have taken on a life of their own. They have become invisible in our conversations. We are inundated by them throughout our day.
But do they help? Are the accurate?
Social media gives everyone the opportunity to voice their opinion openly and frequently. About any subject. At any time. Gary Vaynerchuk said, because of this behavior, there is a growing sense of entitlement for people to voice their opinion that didn’t exist 20 years ago.
Entitlement is dangerous. People become reckless, careless, and insensitive when they feel entitled.
Life cares little about your opinion or the opinion of others. What is important is whether there is an internal consistency to your behavior and life choices. They will not always be right. But are you consistent?
You see, how we resolve the direction and issues in our life, is a very personal matter. Opinions shouldn’t matter if you really want to be authentic. You need to be civil and not a jerk. You need to have manners in how you treat others. But in the end, to be true to yourself, means others opinions don’t matter.
Offering a different perspective to someone who asks for your advice is much different than a small, selfish, opinion offered as if it was truth.
Sadly, a lot of people spend a lot of time voicing their opinions. Their time could be much better spent by seeking different perspectives to enrich their own lives. What someone else does or does not do (and investing time to comment on it) is not very productive.
What also degrades, when you constantly have opinions, is it becomes more difficult to cooperate with others. To embrace give and take for the good of something greater. Organizations and even small groups can be destroyed when opinions run wild. There is a detachment from reality and cooperation that is harmful both to the individual and the group.
I find that people with a lot of opinions (and that share them frequently/openly) are small minded.
Before your next Facebook post, or tweet, or instagram/snapchat/vine post, think about what you could do with your adrenaline & energy in the next five minutes that will benefit you in some small way.
And quit worrying about others. What I find, most times, is that they don’t listen anyway.