First, I wish nerds and marketers would stop doing that because 95% of the world has no idea why polarized sunglasses are a thing. But I digress.
Now a brief lesson on sunglasses (stay with me - I promise there's a point).
Sun rays bounce in all different directions. The worst glares while we're driving typically come from the sun rays bouncing off of car windshields, trunks, hoods, etc. There's some weird sciencey thing that causes the rays that bounce off flat surfaces to all line up the same direction. Polarized sunglasses block out those rays, thus eliminating the majority of bright glares while you're driving. (Here's a deeper explanation for the nerds in the group.)
Brilliant, right?
Opinions are also like sun rays. They are bouncing all over the place. Some of them even come in "glares" from big groups pushing their ideals (#politics).
But the more dangerous ones come from people we interact with more regularly. From our friends. Our family. Our peers. Our classmates. Our colleagues. Our clients. Our bosses.
We need to work on filtering opinions just like our sunglasses filter sun rays. You get to choose what you let in and what you keep out. Here are some lists to help you out.
What to Let In:
- Compliments
- Opinions that contain new ideas
- Opinions that contain different perspectives
- Constructive criticism
- Opinions of true authorities in a given space
- Opinions that make the world a better place
What to Keep Out:
- Opinions that are purely meant to be hurtful (you're ugly, you're fat, you're stupid... and the adult versions... that's a dumb idea, you'll never be good at ____, you've always been _____).
- Opinions of smart people in areas that they know nothing about (e.g., actors giving opinions on the economy)
- Opinions of people that love you giving their opinion on things they know nothing about (e.g., your mom's opinion of your career choice)
- Compliments that mean well but are categorically false ("Honey, you're the best singer I've ever heard" definitely has its place with kids, but can be harmful once we're adults.)
- Opinions that are just mean
Opinions are not like gifts. You are not obligated to accept them.
And don't feel obligated to give them either.