It started around the time when the pandemic began.
So many things were new, unsure, frightening.
Everyone had an opinion.
So did I.
Or so I thought.
It seemed to be a solid opinion.
Until it started to sway.
Doubts, friends’ opinions, news, fear.
All of it seemed to influence my opinion.
And I found it quite stressful to have it change on me almost daily.
So for a while I decided not to have an opinion and just follow the given.
It was so freeing.
It did require to not engage into conversations about Covid, which was probably the biggest effort. But I managed.
I guess I still had an opinion, which was to not have an opinion.
We are asked for our opinions all the time.
Big or small things require us to react.
What do you think about this, or that, or the horrible thing that I heard in the news.
People ask us for our opinion about something and often it is simply asking for acknowledgement or even approval of their opinion.
Lately I found that trying to have an opinion can be quite laborious, stressful and conflictual.
To form an educated opinion, I need to gather a lot of information.
Information on a lot of topics can change daily, which requires gathering more information.
Talking about the topic with others often ends in conflictual discussions.
So lately I am trying to be okay with not having an opinion. At least not for everything and not immediately.
I am sitting with it.
I am seeing it develop.
I listen to others’ opinions.
I watch the push and pull in and outside of me.
Whether the topic is Roe v. Wade, the Iranian women revolting or simply what I should think about someone’s behavior.
I’m delaying my opinion.
I’m watching my reaction, my assumption, my projection, my judgment.
It feels uncomfortable, because I’m confronted with my own defaults, faults and fears.
It feels comfortable because I do not have to react.
Simply saying:
I do not have an opinion on that yet
feels so powerful and freeing.
I let time my brain and my body find out whether I need to and want to have an opinion about something.
Because it’s totally okay NOT to have an opinion.
It is!
I need to repeat that to myself.
What’s your opinion about this? 🤷♀️😂