There Is What You Think You Know And What You Know You Know. Know The Difference.
Your opinion is not a fact (that's a fact).
There is fact. There is opinion. These two things are very different (that’s a fact) and need to be considered separately (that’s an opinion). Lately these two things have been getting confounded, conflated, and confused (or another word starting with “con” that means mistaking one thing for another).
There was a recent study that found people had a tough time differentiating between statements of fact and statements of opinion. And, wow, that is confounding (meaning being so surprised as to be unsure how to react). You can see this happening all over the place lately. People are offering up opinions as fact, and facts as opinions. It can get very confusing (meaning difficult to understand). And it is dangerous.
THE FACTS
FACT: Fact /fak(t)/ noun: a thing that is known or proved to be true.
OPINION: O·pin·ion /əˈpiny(ə)n/ noun: a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
A fact is hard and unyielding. An opinion is squishy and malleable (or at least it should be). You can have an opinion about a fact, but facts don’t change based on opinion. You can certainly have an opinion that upon further review turns out to be a fact, but your opinion didn’t cause the fact to come into being. E.g. Believing that fire is hot does not affect the heat of the fire (if it does, you have magic in you).
You can only make good decisions with good information. This is a fact. Actually, it is my opinion (but it’s a good opinion). When you need to make a decision, you are probably being faced with a problem - a fact - that needs to be addressed. You will then seek opinions on how to deal with this factual problem.
Opinions are formed by living and learning - such as having the opinion that a fire is not a pleasant place to put your hand because of the time you tried to grab something out of a fire… with your bare hand. All of those opinions add up and prove helpful in solving present factual problems because we don’t have to relearn anything - like having the opinion that using tongs are a better way of grabbing something out of a fire (I lived. I learned).
The problem arises when you think your opinion is fact - like believing the only way to grab something out of a fire is by using tongs. When you fail to allow for other solutions to be considered, because your opinion has worked well before, you fail to open yourself up to find better solutions. You get stuck and your opinions become part of the problem e.g. you can’t find any tongs, so you give up.
It is of the utmost importance to be able to distinguish between fact and opinion - between what you know you know and what you think you know. It is the difference between seeing the world realistically and seeing it through a predeterminate fog.
IT’S A WASTE OF TIME
Getting facts and opinions mixed up can be a ridiculous waste of time, hinder advancement in understanding, and make for horrible decision making.
For example: on the extreme end of conflating fact and opinion exists the flat-earth movement. They argue that the fact that the Earth is round is actually an opinion and that their opinion that the Earth is flat is actually a fact. They have thus made it their mission to prove to the rest of us that the Earth is indeed flat and vindicate their position.
What a colossal waste of time and resources. While they are out conducting rudimentary experiments, the rest of the world is launching satellites and… I don’t know… not falling off the edge of the world.
DON’T BE LIKE THEM
Flat-earthers are on the goofy end of the spectrum (opinion), but it illustrates how wasteful standing firm on an opinion can be - especially when you are surrounded by facts. Don’t hold your opinions so dearly that you can’t see what is true.
Opinions should be fluid. They should shift and morph based on whatever facts you have available to you. When new facts present themselves, your opinions should reshape to account for them. Your opinions should flow like water around the boulders of facts.
If they don’t, you should go stick your hand back in that fire. Perhaps this time things will have changed. I doubt it (but that’s just my opinion).