I’ve been thinking about the difference between my emotions and the opinions of other people.

I’ll admit it—the opinions of others do affect my emotions. But I’m starting to think that other people’s opinions are like clothes. I can choose to wear them, or I can choose not to wear them.

Sometimes, when I’m in an unhealthy place, I don’t even stop to think. I just let those opinions get put on me without asking whether they fit or whether I even want to wear them.

For example, I might read someone’s opinion about a political issue and suddenly I’m angry. I put on their clothes. I wear their opinion as if it’s the truth, and now it’s affecting my emotions.

Or someone gives an opinion about how to teach, how to create content, or how to build something, and I start thinking, I have to do it that way too. But it’s still an opinion. It might even be a successful opinion, but it doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for me.

Maybe I need to pause before I put those clothes on.

Not every opinion belongs to me. Not every judgment deserves a place in my mind. Some opinions are too heavy. Some don’t fit. Some were never meant for me in the first place.

I want to generate my own opinions. I want to sort through feedback, sift it carefully, keep what’s useful, and leave behind what isn’t. Feedback can help me grow, but I also need to recognize the moment it stops being helpful and starts affecting my emotions.

I don’t want to be sad. I don’t want to be filled with shame. And sometimes those feelings don’t come from who I am—they come from wearing someone else’s opinion as if it were my own.

Maybe today, I can choose what I wear.

How do the opinions of people interact with your emotions?