Conventional is a good fallback position

This is quite true; being conventional at times is not a problem especially if the situation requires you to. It helps in a sense that one stay away from trouble, avoid arguments that would leads to no solution but time wasting. There are things that demands one to be conventional. However, we need to not be conventional if it will mean that we must miss out of all the benefits because we are afraid of opening our mouth and talk.
Sometimes people are so afraid of taking opportunities because they are scared of failure. That must not be seen as conventional but lack of it thereof. They stick to their routine and do things again and again because they are scared of trying new ventures, they are afraid of change. Change to them is scary and they will not be able to fit in and things will be different to what they are used to. This must not be seen in that direction but change brings a new way of doing things and sometimes it’s easy that the one you are used to. You tend to miss out on all the life’s opportunities that would have changed your life forever.