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Logan Jones

Mrs. Trace

Dual Enrollment

17 January 2019

“Facing Uncomfortable Situations”

“I want us to leave this world better than we found it, how I choose to effect change is by

speaking up, being the domino,” said Luvvie Ajayi in her “Get Comfortable with Being

Uncomfortable” TED Talk. In her talk, she emphasizes the ability to “critique the world,” for

both herself and everyone else to try and build towards a better world. Effectively causing

change alone is difficult, but Ajayi asserts that by speaking out first, by being the first “domino”

to fall, then all the other dominoes will follow and support the change you seek. While her

words offer tremendous value on a global scale, Ajayi’s TED Talk resonated with me by igniting

my desire to change my life for the better.

I have lived the majority of my life doing the bare minimum. While I have acknowledged

for a long time, I stayed complacent with myself and stayed on the path of confusion and fear, as

I got closer and closer to college and my adult life. Ajayi's says, “Fear has a very concrete power

of keeping us from doing and saying the things that are our purpose.” As she said, I suddenly

dropped all feeling of content with my work ethic, my college major idea, and my financial

situation. As someone that has no idea what I want to do in college and the laziest work ethic, I

suppressed all ideas of working hard and doing something successful that I’m content with,

because of the fear of not knowing what would happen if I strayed from the “safe” path. Ajayi’s

TED talk ignited my passion for working hard towards my future life that I want. Just as her
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decision to, “...not let fear dictate what I do,” I won’t let my fear of college and adulthood hinder

the career and future life with fulfillment that I’m searching for.

Now I am sure that Ajayi’s TED Talk is a little more applicable on a global scale with

things like speaking up for social justice with the Me Too movement or the Civil Rights

Movement, but her powerful ideals are enough to resonate with anybody be the change you want

to see. Be the domino for the world you want to see for yourself and others, so others fall in suit.

Don’t let fear keep you from your purpose even if it means putting yourself in an uncomfortable

situation. Luvvie Ajayi’s Ted Talk can ignite anybody’s desire to speak out and pursue the

change you want for the world or yourself and eventually other dominoes will fall in support.