You hold a position you never actually examined.
Not because you are stupid. Because not having one felt worse. There was a question, a real one, and sitting inside it without an answer was uncomfortable enough that you reached out and grabbed the nearest available certainty and called it yours. The opinion was not the point. Ending the not-knowing was the point. The opinion was just what happened to be in reach.
This is different from being told what to think. This is choosing to be told, because being unsure was the thing you could not stand. You did not get handed the certainty. You went looking for it, the way a person in the dark reaches for any wall.
And once you had it, you defended it. Loudly, sometimes. Because the alternative was going back into the question, and the question was the thing you grabbed the answer to escape.
You did not think it. You needed it. Those produce very different relationships with being wrong.
one thing: pick one strong opinion you hold. Ask honestly whether you reasoned your way into it, or reached for it because not having one felt worse. Sit with whichever answer comes.
Josh
PS. This letter now has a daily version. One short mirror each morning, two minutes, no streak to keep. It only goes to people who ask for it. If that is you, answer below and the mornings start.