Writer, activist and self-proclaimed 'professional troublemaker' Luvvie Ajayi is not fearless, but willing to speak truth to power. In this TED talk, she says how she is the one who speaks up and makes a point that others are too afraid to make. But she understands there are consequences to this, and speaks up anyway because "there are too few people in the world willing to be the domino". Talking about her initial struggles and finally finding a professional footing, Ajayi says that she realised fear has a very concrete power of "keeping us from doing and saying the things that are our purpose". "I am not going to let fear rule my life. I am not going to let fear dictate what I do," she says. She then goes on to say how she made several decisions in life because they scared her and she didn't want to live in fear. How she chose discomfort over keeping her feet solidly on the ground, metaphorically speaking. "And I feel like every day that I am speaking truth against institutions and people who are bigger than me, and just forces that are more powerful than me, I feel like I am falling out of that plane," she says, referring to her skydiving experience. "Comfort is overrated," she says. "Being quiet is comfortable. Keeping things the way they've been is comfortable. And all comfort has done is maintain the status quo. So, we've got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable by speaking these hard truths when they're necessary," Ajayi says. ALSO READ | ‘Don’t wait for tragedy, you can also change your life in a state of joy and inspiration’ She ends her speech with some powerful lines: "In a world that wants us to walk around as representatives of ourselves, being yourself can be a revolutionary act. And in a world that wants us to whisper, I choose to yell." Ajayi says that when it comes to speaking hard truths, you must always ask yourself three questions: did you mean it? Can you defend it? Did you say it with love? The answer should be 'yes' to all three.
