TED｜What introverts wish everyone else knew

Shalewa Sharpe | TED • Oct 2024

I am very excited to be here. I mean, unfortunately, this is how I do excitement. I don't want to give you guys too much. I -- I gotta tell you, you all are lucky to have me.

I'm very busy. I'm a busy person. I got a lot going on. You know what I mean? I'm working on so many projects. I'm working on a project right now. I am currently breaking in this boot. Let's just adjust. Let's just talk about it, OK? I know you're staring.

Overpopulation broke my ankle. Now --I don't mean that I was, like, in a big crowd and I fell. I mean, I was by myself in my sister's apartment, and I slipped on a cardboard box that I was going to use to send some items that I found in her town to my place in Brooklyn, because the New York City thrift stores in Brooklyn are terrible because too many people live there and they're picked. It's just -- there's nothing in there. Also, everything in there is horrible.

Quick question. Why do you only donate horrible things to the thrift store? Why don't you give us your good stuff? Give us your good stuff. You can't live with it forever. Let me have a crack at it, you know? And actually, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe capitalism broke my ankle. Look, young people are in a very anti-capitalistic bag right now. They're very anti. And I want to be there with them, I really do. They're the future and I want to be there with them. But I just got money.

Just got it. So because you develop a moral core, I have to stop spending? That's not fair. They just started putting extended sizes in the stores. But I'm supposed to stop. I don't know, sounds fatphobic to me. That's all I'm saying.

A little bit. But look, we're on the healing end. We're on the back end. We're doing fine. I'm going to physical therapy. Which -- how come no one told me about physical therapy? It's great. It's like diet gym. I love it so much. First of all, no dress code. Everyone in there was working out in jeans and desert boots.

It's fantastic. Also, instead of weights on the machines, there just seem to be different color hair ties that you could just pull on for, like, 25 to 30 minutes while Frank Ocean plays in the background. Man. It's great. I highly recommend it, you know?

I do, but that's not why I'm out here. I know that we've been discussing the concept of play, and that I'm coming out here looking like the concept of consequences, but --

That's not -- That's not why I'm here. I'm here actually to represent for all of my fellow introverts. Where my introverts at? OK. I don't believe the ones who clapped.

But many people raised their hands, and I see you. The last time I did an all call for introverts, three tumbleweeds left the room, so I'm glad. I'm glad that you're owning yourself. But really, my message is actually more for the extroverts. (Imitates talking) Um

Basically, what I want to tell you extroverts is to stop being weird. What I mean by that is when we are turning up at the function, we're all there together, and you see someone quietly just on the wall or in the corner, just watching things, chilling, having a drink, I understand you're all empaths, I understand you feel discomfort or you're, you know, the life of the party, and you rush over, and the first thing you do is get in this person's face and you yell, "Are you OK? Are you having fun?" And they tell you, "I'm fine. I'm good. I'm having a good time."

My message to you is, believe them. Please believe them. We're having fun. What you've got there is an active introvert. I know it seems odd because usually we're in our heads. It's a lot of fun in here. We decorated it how we liked, but --

But we do occasionally want to go out. We want to do the things, we want to run and jump and climb and drunkenly paint pottery or eat a messy taco in the street. Whatever it is that you guys are doing right now, we want to do it, but we want to do it quietly. We don't need to be all loud about it, you know?

We just don't want someone running up to us, like, "Are you going to nurse that all night?" or, "You didn't even scream when we jumped out the plane." Like let us --Let us live. Let us live. Respect the comfort levels. There are many different comfort levels in the room, in the space. Let them all breathe. We're just there observing and you need us to observe. Who will tell the tale? You? No. You need credible witnesses.

We're seeing things you guys didn't even notice. Like, here's a thing I noticed recently. Clubs and dive bars are doing a weird thing with their bathroom lighting. You didn't even notice that, did you? No.

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