Everyone has opinions. Some are based on years and decades of studying, reflection, personal experience, trial and error, and education. Some are based on all sorts of other things that may or may not be grounded with facts/evidence/experience. People have an opinion about all sorts of things. It could be a sports team. Or maybe a political party. Or maybe a religious belief. Or obviously some sort of training  method or viewpoint on horses.

 

But unfortunately, many times, once someone has decided and formed an opinion on something, they will fight to their last breath to defend that opinion. They will not be open to even the chance that their opinion could be wrong, or even just that there might be a slightly better viewpoint.

People seem to be more worried about "being consistent" than "being right", whether it is for their own mental health (not wanting to own up to themselves that they could be wrong about something), or because of their desire to keep up a certain appearance/status in their social group (not wanting to own up to others that they could be wrong about something). We abandon pursuing "the best way" or "the best answer" and instead pursue avoiding anything that could make us have to admit that we were wrong in the past. (Notice, I also said "best", not "right" because oftentimes there can be more than one "right" way/answer).

 

I believe social media (and our politicians, but I'll leave it at that) have *strongly* been a factor in this in the past handful of years, but strong, unyielding opinions also existed prior to social media and the seemingly increased partisanship of politics in recent years.

 

But this adherence to "not wanting to admit we were wrong" means that we miss out on being able to do so much better. It means that we miss out on better things, better answers, better ways of doing something, and experiences that will make us a better person.

 

Because after all, what are the chances that the very *first* opinion you formed on something is actually "the best/right" opinion? Or what are the chances that the opinion you have right now is actually "the best/right" opinion, and/or that it is applicable to every situation that you would come across?

 

I look back and there are so many things that I know now that I wish I would've known earlier. But since we can't change the past, our next best choice is to do better in the future.

 

Many times, someone who is a true believer in something will avoid any fact or opinion that runs counter to their opinion/belief. I feel that oftentimes this is also because we mistakenly make that opinion/belief an intrinsic part of ourselves. We adopt it into our own sense of who we are. And that's the issue, because if your opinion becomes indistinguishable from who you are as a person, then you will never be open to any other possibilities because it would mean that you are cutting out a part of yourself in order to change.

 

Meanwhile others (seemingly a smaller and smaller minority of people) will be open to considering other viewpoints, opinions, etc. They will approach it with an openness to being wrong and to switching their opinions. At the end, they might not switch. But they at least give the differing opinion the chance at persuading them on its merits. They don't view differing opinions as a threat to their internal values and sense of who they are. They view them as a potential better tool. Like evaluating whether a hammer is better to pound a nail into a piece of wood rather than using a large stone.

 

I think it's pretty darn obvious which mindset is better. But somehow very few people actually adhere to the mindset of wanting to ensure they have the best view. They'd rather feel comfortable in the stability of not having their beliefs questioned or changed.

 

So you have to decide: do you want to stay in your comfortable bubble and seek the version of the "truth" as you *want* it to be, or do you want to seek *THE TRUTH* no matter if it ends up invalidating your beliefs and opinions that you currently hold?