The person who makes room for your different opinion has made room for more of you.

Disagreement handled well is one of the clearest signals of safety in a relationship. When someone can hear a view they do not share without cooling, retaliating or filing it away, you stop editing yourself in their company, and more of what you actually think becomes available. Where that room is missing, agreement gets performed and the friendship slowly runs on a smaller version of you. Tolerance of difference is not politeness, it is capacity.

Say something mildly unpopular to someone you trust and watch how it is received. Then offer the same steadiness the next time you are the one disagreeing.