Independence is partly knowing your survival does not depend on everyone approving your decisions.

A great deal of hesitation traces back to a quiet assumption that being disapproved of is dangerous. It once was, in a smaller world where the group’s opinion determined whether you ate. Recognising that this is no longer literally true loosens something, because most disapproval now costs you nothing but a feeling.

When a decision frightens you, ask what would concretely happen if the people who would disapprove did disapprove. Follow it all the way through to the actual consequences. Usually the honest answer is that some people would think something, and your life would carry on.