In spite of the powerful potential of the opinions of others, don’t ever blindly follow anything that anyone says. Truth never stands alone; it always leaves abundant clues. Nothing should ever be accepted as true without evidence commensurate to the scope of the truth. Just as stranger ideas require greater evidence, ideas that purport to have greater worth also require greater evidence. How you really are is of the utmost importance, and someone’s unsubstantiated guess is worth very little weight.
The opinion of others is only as valid as the strength of their reasons for holding it. Evidence can come in many forms, from prior demonstrations of wisdom in the person sharing their opinion, to specific examples of your past behavior that align with the claims. When a person presents insufficient evidence, you should doubt what they say. If a perspective presents stronger evidence than an alternative, honesty obligates you to accept it. When you do, realize that you are not just blindly accepting another person’s opinion. If someone can persuade you to think, act, or feel as they do, then by all means do so— but you will do it because you believe it to be best, not because they expect you to.
Requiring sufficient evidence is also a key to preventing others from saying anything about you that hurts your feelings. If they fail to provide sufficient evidence of their opinion about you, the only reason you have to care about what they think is the damage they might do to those without the wisdom to discern between opinions that have sufficient evidence and those that do not.