A stranger’s opinion weighs exactly as much as you let it. Most of them weigh nothing.

Weight is assigned, not intrinsic. Someone who does not know your history, your reasons, or what the last year cost you has produced a guess, and you are the one who decides whether that guess gets carried around. People with no context are not qualified to grade you, and most have already forgotten what they said.

The next time a comment sticks, ask what that person actually knows. If the answer is very little, let it stay theirs. Keep a short list of people whose view you have decided to take seriously, and do not add to it casually.