Putting my opinions out there

I want to write about why I keep resisting putting my own opinions out there. Anywhere.

I do write on Substack because it feels safe. I barely have any readers there. But on X, it's much more difficult, and on LinkedIn, it's even harder.

I used to consider myself an opinionated person. But these days, I find myself questioning where my opinions actually come from. Did I form them after deeply thinking about a topic, or did they come from consuming fast content that simply handed me a conclusion, which I then adopted as my own without really questioning it?

Did I actually sit down, think deeply about something, and then make it an opinion?

I've also been practicing responding to things more slowly instead of reacting immediately. Ironically, all these changes have had an unintended consequence: they've made me afraid of putting my opinions out there.

Part of that fear also comes from the hate I received in college from random people living in their own echo chambers. But I think it's time to let go of that.

If I'm going to put something out into the world, I want it to be something I've genuinely thought through. That's also why I've been practicing writing more, because writing helps me think and articulate my ideas better.

Maybe it's time to stop treating my thoughts like they're only safe on Substack. It would be nice to have real readers engaging with ideas I've actually taken the time to think through.