Why I Don’t Take Beliefs at Face Value Anymore

Does anyone else ever feel like they came to earth just to debate? I laugh at myself for even saying that, because honestly, I hate it sometimes. But it feels like too often people are so convicted in what they believe beliefs that were just handed down to them. No research, no questioning, not even a little prying into the roots of it. Just: “Oh, this person is superior to me somehow, so whatever they say must be the truth. I’ll spread it as my own.”

I learned the hard way, at 19 years old, that you can’t just take someone’s words as fact. Yes, you can listen, and you can even agree. But if you’re going to spread that information, you should at least self-reflect on it first. Ask yourself: Why do I agree with this?

Back then, I had unknowingly been dating a narcissist for three years. He came from a well-off, close, well-educated family. I came from poverty, broken family ties, and very little guidance. I wasn’t taught discernment. I wasn’t taught how to judge someone’s motives.

My older boyfriend used that against me. He would throw out “facts” or drop big words just to confuse me. The moment I started looking those words up, correcting him, and realizing how much of it was bullshit that’s when it clicked. I saw how dangerous it was for someone in a vulnerable place (like I was then) to believe without question. Vulnerable people absorb information, and when they pass it on, they often carry it with even more passion and conviction. That’s how misinformation spreads: one ego-driven person speaks without knowledge, and it cascades through people who never stop to ask, “Is this even true?”

That pattern still echoes everywhere. Someone with too much ego or too little self-reflection speaks confidently about something they never researched, and it trickles down. And the vulnerable carry it further. It’s a cycle of misinformation.

Life is about evolution. The beliefs that survive and rise are the ones that adapt to modern-day living, not the ones that keep us bound to outdated ideas. I feel like we’re being guided to break free from passed-down information that no longer serves us and maybe more importantly, from the need for labels.

Labels are one of the biggest traps. When we don’t feel like we fit a label, we wander. Some of us get lost for years trying to squeeze into a place that was never meant for us. If we’re lucky, we eventually find our way back to ourselves.

The label I claim now?

Human.

Because that one word is enough. It reminds me that I’m no different than my neighbor, no matter what boxes the world tries to fit us into.