Autopilot

Strong opinions weakly held.

I do this thing sometimes where I just say things and have strong convictions about them on the face of it but then actually don’t agree with the opinion or think about it with any depth before saying. Auto generating speech almost with words coming from the tongue not the brain or perhaps from the brain not the heart.

Figuring out why has proven a little tricky.

On the face of it, you could argue that people “just say things” to fill voids in conversations as silences can often be unbearable but there has to be some reason a little below the surface that prompts these pointless words.

Initially I thought it may be a vanity thing, like saying something with conviction to sound knowledgeable but in the search of the cause, I started to realise that I don’t actually need to have an opinion on everything.

This is difficult to internalise but truthfully there’s no reason to carry such black/white opinions on most things, most things just aren’t relevant to you. In fact, it’s often far more useful having no opinion as it allows you to listen to both sides of the argument without feeling strongly either way, and then if you decide to form an opinion at least you took the time to understand the opposing viewpoint, but again you don’t need to have an opinion. You can just be an observer without adding your two cents or backing up some loose viewpoint you’ve aligned yourself with, just watch and listen, let the argument wash over you without allying yourself either way.