TED Talks Daily - What introverts wish everyone else knew | Shalewa Sharpe

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Comedian Shalewa Sharpe recounts the hilarious tale of how capitalism broke her ankle, what’s going on with dive bar bathrooms and why she — a quiet soul who likes to sip chamomile tea — brings a tote bag to a wild night out.Want to help shape TED’s shows going forward? Fill out our survey!Become a TED Member today at https://ted.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, TED Talks Daily listeners. It's Elise. Thank you for making this show part of your daily routine. We really appreciate it and we want to make it even better for you. So we put together a quick survey and we'd love to hear your thoughts. It's listener survey time. It only takes a few minutes, but it really helps us shape the show and get to know you, our listeners, so much better.

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asks some of life's burning questions, including but not limited to, did capitalism break my ankle? Enjoy. Slip into a deep restful sleep on a luxurious feeling mattress you can afford. Logan & Cove is named Canada's best luxury hybrid mattress. Designed and handcrafted in Canada, it starts at just $7.99. Melt into its plush top cover. Stay comfortable with cooling gel foam. And let supportive coils cradle you to sleep. Try Logan & Cove at home risk-free for 365 nights.

And if you're a listener in Canada, we have an exclusive offer for you. Get a free bedding bundle when you buy now at loganandcove.ca slash podcast. Support for the show comes from Airbnb. Last summer, my family and I had an amazing Airbnb stay while adventuring in Playa del Carmen. It was so much fun to bounce around in ATVs, explore cool caves, and snorkel in subterranean rivers. Vacations like these are never long enough, but perhaps I could take advantage of my empty home by hosting it on Airbnb while I'm away.

And then I could use the extra income to stay a few more days on my next Mexico trip. It seems like a smart thing to do since my house sits empty while I'm away. We could zipline into even more cenotes on our next visit to Mexico. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. This episode is sponsored by Google Pixel. I am always looking for tools that help me stay curious

and efficient. And lately, I've been exploring the Google Pixel 9, which was gifted to me by Google. What's impressed me most is how it's powered by Gemini. That's Google's personal AI assistant built right into my phone. Gemini helps me brainstorm ideas, summarize emails, even plan out my day, all just by holding the power button. For example, let me show you how easy it is. Gemini, summarize my unread emails. Re, away next week. Jonathan confirmed with Elise Hugh about rescheduling a meeting.

Reminder, development committee meeting tomorrow at 12 p.m. Central time. It's super helpful for staying on top of things without feeling overwhelmed. Or when I needed a quick dinner plan, I snapped a photo of what I had in my fridge and Gemini gave me recipe ideas. It's like having a research assistant right in my pocket. If you can think it, Gemini can help create it. Learn more about Google Pixel 9 at store.google.com.

Learn more about Google Pixel 9 at store.google.com. I am very excited to be here. Unfortunately, this is how I do excitement. I don't want to give you guys too much. 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. Okay. I know you're staring. Overpopulation broke my ankle. Let's just talk about it, okay? I know you're staring. Overpopulation broke my ankle. Now, I don't mean that I was 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-capitalist bag right now. Right? They're very anti-capitalist. 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 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 fat phobic 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, you know. 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 seemed 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 are my introverts at? Okay. I don't believe the ones who clapped. But many people raise 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 that you're owning yourself. But really, my message is actually more for the extroverts. 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, right, we're all there together and you see someone quietly just on the wall or in a 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 okay? 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, you know? 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, you know? We decorated it how we liked, but...

But we do occasionally want to go out. We want to do the things, you know? 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 gonna 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. Like, respect the comfort levels. There are many different comfort levels in the room, in the space. Let them all breathe, you know? 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. It's usually, it's got like one light bulb

and it's like some whimsical color, like teal or magenta. And so you can't see and you're squinting. And I guess it's supposed to be fun, but it's not fun for me because I need to see the color of my pee at all times. It just, it determines how the rest of the night goes. You know? So I'm in there with my phone flashlight like making decisions. How are we doing? What's going on?

You know? If it's relatively relatively clear great. Let's keep going It's got a tint I'll take a bottle of water to go please Something's wrong. You know, I just I was in fact I was in a club bathroom recently that had a sign on what club bathrooms are my third space. I Was in I was in a club bathroom recently and there was a sign on the wall and the sign had a lot of information. It said hey if you have drugs on you just know that we have testing strips behind the bar and if you or someone in your party does all of your drugs know that we have Narcan to pull you back and if you're a

person who has a menstrual cycle we've got diva cups tampons and pads under the sink and if you were planning on having sex tonight, we have a container by the sink that has all of the accoutrement that you may need. And I thought, wow, that's a lot of information. (*Laughter*) Quick question, where is your toilet paper? (*Laughter*)

Where is that? You've got me reading a lot while I'm sitting here drip drying. So I actually I went looking around to see if they actually had all of the stuff because I am nosy and it turns out they did. They had everything. They had snacks for emotional support animals. They had it all. And I was like you you know what? I kind of appreciate the measures that you've taken. I really do. Here's one measure I wish you had taken. A hook on the back of the door. What are we doing? Do you think I'm going to put my tote bag down on this floor?

Ew, that's nasty. You heard me correctly. I take a tote bag down on this floor? Ew, that's nasty. You heard me correctly, I take a tote bag to the club. I do. I do. Because I am next level active introvert, so I go to the club to relax. I post up by the DJ booth. That's where you'll find me, knitting. That's what's in the tote bag.

You understand? I'm playing large font sudoku. I'm drinking chamomile tea. So I guess basically, I guess basically my message for you all is just respect the boundaries while we're out here having a good time. Get rid of your good stuff and bring a mug everybody. bring a mug if you want to have a lot of fun at the club. You've been lovely. I've been Shalewa Sharp. Thank

you very much. That was Shalewa Sharp speaking at TED next in 2024. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today's show. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar, and Tansika Sarmarnivon. It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan, additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balarezo. I'm Elise Hu.

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