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Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, I am dramas and this is the Street

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Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, Bring New York daily dose of Thomas Stoic Philosophy,

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Speaker 1: a remix for the hip hop generation. Now, with that

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Speaker 1: in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot

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Speaker 1: of inspiration. Not today, we are going to be focusing

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Speaker 1: around the idea of a mental Maori, right, the idea

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Speaker 1: that death is inevitable for all of us, right, and

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Speaker 1: we have to live life accordingly. Now, I found this

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Speaker 1: quote from Tyler, the creator that was kind of the

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Speaker 1: inspiration behind today's episode. And in the Tyler says, do

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Speaker 1: what the fuck makes you happy, because at the end,

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Speaker 1: who's there you? And I've always tried to live by this,

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Speaker 1: right because it's the idea that you're the only one

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Speaker 1: who really has to live with your decisions at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, right, Like, of course, there are

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Speaker 1: people who will be affected depending on how your life

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Speaker 1: is set up and depending on the decision that you're making.

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you are always

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Speaker 1: going to be the one who is truly affected by

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Speaker 1: the decisions that you make, right, Like the person that

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Speaker 1: you end up marrying. You know, you're the one who

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Speaker 1: has to wake up to them every day, the job

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Speaker 1: or the career that you choose. You're the one who

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Speaker 1: has to go there every day. So why would you

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Speaker 1: leave decisions that are inevitably going to affect you more

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Speaker 1: than anyone else? Why would you leave those up to

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Speaker 1: anyone else? Right? Why would you leave the decision making

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Speaker 1: up to others, allowing their opinions to, you know, dictate

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Speaker 1: how you think and how you choose to live this life? Right?

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Speaker 1: And this leads to quote from one of the stoics,

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Speaker 1: Marcus really Is, and he says, it never ceases to

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Speaker 1: amaze me. We all love ourselves more than other people,

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Speaker 1: but care more about their opinion than our own. I

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Speaker 1: just think that's such a profound statement, a profound way

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Speaker 1: to kind of summarize that the thing that I think

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Speaker 1: all of us kind of go through, right, Like, none

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Speaker 1: of us want to be unhappy, Yet oftentimes we give

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Speaker 1: our power to others by letting them influence our decisions, right,

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Speaker 1: letting their their opinion affect whether or not we choose

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Speaker 1: to do something right and essentially affect how we go

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Speaker 1: about living our lives. You know, and this is often

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Speaker 1: common for parents or your friends that you grew up

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Speaker 1: with the people that you're dating, whatever it might be, like,

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Speaker 1: we are always as human beings. It feels like allowing

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Speaker 1: others to kind of poison our minds with their own unions, right,

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Speaker 1: And I'm not above this, but I've also been conscious

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Speaker 1: of this as well. You know. This is sort of

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Speaker 1: like I said, how I tried to live my life,

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Speaker 1: and I've been better at it in some ways than others.

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Speaker 1: But I know, for me, you know, I remember being

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Speaker 1: eighteen years old and having this dream of playing music

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Speaker 1: for a living and being creative and doing the thing

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Speaker 1: that I loved as a means to make money. Right,

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Speaker 1: And I dropped out of college for the first time

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Speaker 1: when I was eighteen, you know, and I made that

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Speaker 1: decision to live for myself and not for what my

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Speaker 1: parents wanted. And was it easy, of course not. It

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Speaker 1: was incredibly difficult, and there were so many times where

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Speaker 1: I doubted myself and so many times where I walked

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Speaker 1: back that decision. You know. I re entered college after

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Speaker 1: dropping out, you know, and I gave up on chasing

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Speaker 1: a career in music, only to you know, eventually go

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Speaker 1: right back into you know, finding a way to make

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Speaker 1: it happen, right until I'm here sitting with you today, right,

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Speaker 1: and there's so many moments of ups and downs in between. Right.

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Speaker 1: But but genuinely, when I look back on all of

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Speaker 1: the hardships, all of the difficult moments, because there were

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Speaker 1: so many, you know, I watched as my friends who

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Speaker 1: decided to take the cookie color life. You know, how

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Speaker 1: they went and graduated college, they got a real job,

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Speaker 1: they got into a serious relationship, they got married, they

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Speaker 1: bought a house, they had a kid, And meanwhile I'm

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Speaker 1: still here trying to just figure it all out. Right,

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Speaker 1: And of course at times that weighed heavily on me.

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, in reflecting you

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Speaker 1: back on my life and sitting here where I am today,

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Speaker 1: I am so happy that I made those decisions, that

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Speaker 1: I chose to live for myself rather than succumbing to

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Speaker 1: the opinions of others. And trust me, there were so

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Speaker 1: many people who were trying to tell me that I

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Speaker 1: need to get my life together, that I needed to

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Speaker 1: give up on this silly dream. But again I recognize

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Speaker 1: that I'm the one who has to live with this life.

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Speaker 1: I'm the one who has to go to a miserable

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Speaker 1: job every day, you know, if I inevitably kind of

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Speaker 1: handed in the towel. Right, they don't have to do that.

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Speaker 1: They're not the ones having to live through that man

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Speaker 1: depression that would come along with living a life that

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Speaker 1: I no interest in being a part of. Right, So

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Speaker 1: I had to choose me at the end of the day.

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Speaker 1: And again it wasn't easy, and in fact, it's probably

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Speaker 1: harder than the cookie cutter life. But also I'm a

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Speaker 1: far happier person now as a result. And I think

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Speaker 1: that's what Tyler the Creator is talking about, as well

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Speaker 1: as Marcus A Really is one of the stoics here.

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Speaker 1: Now we've heard from them, you've heard from myself. Now

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Speaker 1: let's talk about how you can make it your mantra

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Speaker 1: for today. But first let's take a quick break and

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Speaker 1: then we'll be right back. All right, So we have

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Speaker 1: heard the words of Tyler the Creator. We have heard

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Speaker 1: the words of one of the stoics, Marcus Really. As

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Speaker 1: I've given you my own personal insights into this idea

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Speaker 1: of not allowing others opinions to affect how you live life,

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Speaker 1: but the grander idea, the idea of a mental maori, right,

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Speaker 1: that we're all gonna die one day and we have

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Speaker 1: to treat life as the precious gift that it is

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Speaker 1: and not waste, you know, as much of it as

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Speaker 1: we can possibly avoid, avoid wasting our precious time here

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Speaker 1: on this earth. And a part of that is in fact,

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Speaker 1: living for ourselves. So now we talk about how you

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Speaker 1: can make it your Manta for today, and I think

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Speaker 1: it starts really simply, and it's asking yourself what makes

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Speaker 1: you genuinely happy? And I know that sounds incredibly obvious

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Speaker 1: and almost childish, but I can almost guarantee that most

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Speaker 1: of us don't have a quick answer to that. We

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Speaker 1: actually have to sit there and think about, like, what

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Speaker 1: truly makes us happy? Right? Like, if you weren't concerned

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Speaker 1: with the opinions of others, the status that you're trying

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Speaker 1: to maintain in whatever social circle you exist in, if

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Speaker 1: you weren't concerned with any of those things, what would

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Speaker 1: you do? And I can almost guarantee while it might

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Speaker 1: not be the entirety of your life, there are definitely

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Speaker 1: areas of your life where you'd probably be doing something

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Speaker 1: different than you're doing right now. And that's what you

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Speaker 1: have to pay attention to, whether it's the career path

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Speaker 1: you're on, the relationship that you are in, or just

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Speaker 1: the overall lifestyle that you are living. I'm sure there

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Speaker 1: is something attached to that that is being influenced by

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Speaker 1: those around you, or just this sort of societal expectation

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Speaker 1: of where you should be at this point in your life,

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Speaker 1: and you have to take inventory of that and recognize

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Speaker 1: that you are really taking something away from yourself by

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Speaker 1: existing in a way that doesn't completely honor what makes

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Speaker 1: you happy. And again, we all have responsibilities. Everybody's life

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Speaker 1: is set up differently. I'm not telling you to run

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Speaker 1: away from your life right now and go start a

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Speaker 1: new one, but it's important to be aware of these

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Speaker 1: things and think about how you can begin kind of

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Speaker 1: shifting your mindset and making those moderate changes towards getting

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Speaker 1: after a life where you're truly in the driver's seat

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Speaker 1: and not allowing the opinions of others to affect the

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Speaker 1: decisions that you make in this life and how you

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Speaker 1: choose how to live this life. Right to recap what

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Speaker 1: Tyler Creator said, do what the fuck makes you happy,

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Speaker 1: because at the end, you're the only one there. Right again,

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Speaker 1: you are truly the only one who has to live

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Speaker 1: with those decisions that you make. The anxiety that you

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Speaker 1: live with, or the unhappiness that you live with, you know,

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Speaker 1: as a result of a certain job, relationship, whatever it is.

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Speaker 1: You're the one who has to feel that on a

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Speaker 1: regular basis, so you have to make decisions, you know,

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Speaker 1: with that person in mind, with yourself and mind. And

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Speaker 1: it's like what Marcus Aurelius says, it's crazy to think

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Speaker 1: that as much as we all love ourselves and you know,

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Speaker 1: don't want to be unhappy, we still place more value

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Speaker 1: on the opinions of others than ourselves, you know, more

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Speaker 1: than our own happiness. And that's something that we have

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Speaker 1: to recognize and learn to correct if we truly want

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Speaker 1: to live a happy and fulfilled life. And even for me,

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Speaker 1: you know, like I said, I've had my ups and

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Speaker 1: downs with this, but I can can tell you for

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Speaker 1: sure looking back on my life, and you know, from

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Speaker 1: eighteen to now, you know, being thirty five, I'm so

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Speaker 1: grateful that I decided to walk my own path. And

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Speaker 1: it was difficult. I wanted to give up so many

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Speaker 1: different times, but I also got to enjoy life in

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Speaker 1: a way that I know I would have never experienced

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Speaker 1: had I have followed the cookie cutter life that my

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Speaker 1: parents wanted, that maybe my relationship at the time wanted,

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Speaker 1: or that my friends were pursuing. Right, I had to

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Speaker 1: live for myself and I do not regret it, and

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Speaker 1: I don't think anybody will truly regret, you know, making

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Speaker 1: a decision to keep their own happiness in mind over

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Speaker 1: the opinions of others. Right. So that's just something to

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Speaker 1: take inventory of, a way to kind of think about

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Speaker 1: your life and what you're currently doing and act accordingly. Now,

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Speaker 1: with that said, thank you so much for checking out

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Speaker 1: the Street Stoke Podcast. Do your best to apply these

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Speaker 1: concepts that we've discussed into your everyday life, and I'll

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Speaker 1: catch you next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is a

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Speaker 1: production of Ihearts michaela podcast, a network