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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I am Dramas And this is the Street

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Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose a timeless stoke

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Speaker 1: philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. We are combining

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Speaker 1: ancient stoic philosophy with lyrics and quote from something the

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Speaker 1: greatest who ever grace the microphone. Now, with that in mind,

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Speaker 1: let's get things started with your daily shot of inspiration.

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Speaker 1: Now today we are going to be focusing around the

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Speaker 1: stoic idea of practicing resilience. And I'm gonna pull a

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Speaker 1: quote from from Man, one of the greats, Most Death.

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Speaker 1: This is actually from the book Book of Rhymes The

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Speaker 1: Poetics of Hip Hop, and in it, Most says hip

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Speaker 1: hop is a beautiful culture. It's inspirational because it's a

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Speaker 1: culture of survivors. You can create beauty out of nothingness.

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Speaker 1: And I love that last line as I'm reading it,

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Speaker 1: It's just kind of like stuck out to me. You

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Speaker 1: can create beauty out of nothingness. And if that doesn't

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Speaker 1: kind of get you, I don't know, inspired and worked

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Speaker 1: up a bit, I don't. I don't know what will.

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Speaker 1: Because he is talking about Man, this culture of people

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Speaker 1: who many of whom came from very dire circumstances and

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Speaker 1: turn that into triumph. Right. Like, you know, when you

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Speaker 1: think about the idea of art, you know, it's oftentimes

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Speaker 1: the people you know who who have created some of

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Speaker 1: life's most beautiful art. Like they did so by building

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Speaker 1: from the ashes of tragedy and pain. And of course,

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Speaker 1: nobody wants to have to suffer in this life. Right

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Speaker 1: if we could avoid it, we we I'm sure we

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Speaker 1: all would. But there is some sort of like beautiful

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Speaker 1: synergy in people who have been able to turn that

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Speaker 1: pain into beautiful works that last the test of time,

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Speaker 1: you know. And I think this kind of like lends

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Speaker 1: itself perfectly into a stoic quote, right, And this quote

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Speaker 1: comes from Marcus Aurelius, and he says, adapt yourself to

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Speaker 1: the life you have been given, and truly love the

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Speaker 1: people with whom destiny has surrounded you. Right, And I

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Speaker 1: think that this lends itself to what great artists have

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Speaker 1: always known, that rather than complaining about your circumstances, instead

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Speaker 1: find a way to use it as the fuel for

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Speaker 1: your expression. Right. Like you think about why is as

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Speaker 1: has hip hop become this global thing? Right, It's no

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Speaker 1: longer just the genre of music, but instead it's a

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Speaker 1: way of life, you know, And and partially it's because

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Speaker 1: it was a voice and it still is a voice

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Speaker 1: for people who grew up in similar circumstances to those artists, right,

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Speaker 1: And then you know, for others, the mass appeal of

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Speaker 1: it is that it's given people a window into a

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Speaker 1: life they would have never been able to experience had

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Speaker 1: it not have been for the art, right, Like, you

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Speaker 1: realize that the trials and tribulations like they've now given

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Speaker 1: you a story to tell them. I think that's the

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Speaker 1: beauty in particular of a genre of like hip hop,

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Speaker 1: where it is sort of autobiographical, like this has given

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Speaker 1: you something to talk about. And again, there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of pain, there's a lot of loss, there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of tragedy in these stories that we hear, you know,

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Speaker 1: throughout the decades of great music that has come out,

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Speaker 1: but it's also you know, from those those tough times

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Speaker 1: that some of the greatest art has been created and

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Speaker 1: ones that have impacted myself. And I'm sure anybody listening

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Speaker 1: to this right now, you know, we all can point

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Speaker 1: to a song or an artist that has had a

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Speaker 1: profound impact on our lives, and much of it I'm

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Speaker 1: sure is that we share in some sort of experience

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Speaker 1: that they went through or a feeling that they're sharing,

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Speaker 1: you know. And and for me, it's something that I

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Speaker 1: tried to adapt into all that I do. You know,

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Speaker 1: I relate to this on a pretty grand level, you know,

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Speaker 1: where I've definitely over the last couple of years, I've

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Speaker 1: gotten far more comfortable talking about my struggles with with

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Speaker 1: mental health, you know, and it's allowed me to connect

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Speaker 1: with people on a bigger scale than I could have

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Speaker 1: ever imagined, you know, because I've I've now been able

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Speaker 1: to help people and to you know, give them a

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Speaker 1: voice and an acknowledgement that they're not alone, you know.

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Speaker 1: And even on a more personal level, my parents, you know,

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Speaker 1: they now open up to me about things that they

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Speaker 1: struggled with, you know, because they relate to what I'm saying, right,

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Speaker 1: and our relationship has gotten stronger as a result. I've

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Speaker 1: given them a safe space to share their their own

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Speaker 1: stories because I've been unafraid to share mine. I see

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Speaker 1: them as as people just trying to do their best.

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Speaker 1: You know. There's been so much healing just from us

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Speaker 1: coming together and being able to have a safe space

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Speaker 1: to share you know, like all of that love and

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Speaker 1: all of that understanding, it's coming from from me just

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Speaker 1: sharing my story, right, which is such a beautiful thing.

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Speaker 1: My bouts with the pressure anxiety are of course difficult

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Speaker 1: at times, but I also, you know, now view them

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Speaker 1: as as something that has empowered me, you know, and

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Speaker 1: for that I'm forever grateful, you know, to have practiced

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Speaker 1: that sort of resilience, you know, through through some tough times.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's the whole notion, the whole idea

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to get out with today's show. Now, you've

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Speaker 1: heard from man one of the greats most death. We

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Speaker 1: have heard from Marcus Aurelius. You have heard from myself

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Speaker 1: my own story how I relate to this. Now let's

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Speaker 1: talk about you and how you can make it your

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

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

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Speaker 1: have heard from most Deaf, we have heard from Marcus Aurelius.

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Speaker 1: I've talked a bit about how the idea of practicing

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Speaker 1: resilience has been applied to my life. Now let's talk

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Speaker 1: about how you can make it your mantra for today. Now,

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Speaker 1: I don't have some sort of easy, black and white

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Speaker 1: textbook type of answer to give you of how to

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Speaker 1: handle the tough moments in your life. Right, I think

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Speaker 1: all I can try and do here is invite you

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Speaker 1: to look at things a different way. And again, we're

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Speaker 1: all going through different shit. I can't tell you how

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Speaker 1: to mourn, how to get over it, you know what

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Speaker 1: it is that you're going through. But I would would

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Speaker 1: invite you to ask yourself, how can I make something

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Speaker 1: of this pain? And I look at it even beyond

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Speaker 1: just like an artist, because we're talking about you know,

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Speaker 1: rappers and artists in general, you know, making something out

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Speaker 1: of their pain, making a creative work. Like even when

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Speaker 1: we look at some of the tragedies that have gone

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Speaker 1: on in this world, the people who have been taken

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Speaker 1: from us due to violence far too early or at

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Speaker 1: the hands of police violence that's been something far more

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Speaker 1: recent in the news. You know, you oftentimes see the

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Speaker 1: family members or those closest to them using it as

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Speaker 1: a means to fight back and try and make sure

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Speaker 1: something like this never happens to someone else again. Right,

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Speaker 1: that's often a quote we hear. I mean, that's something

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Speaker 1: that the mother of Tyree Nichols the young man who

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Speaker 1: is brutally just beat up and killed by police officers

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Speaker 1: in Memphis. That's something his mother was saying, that she's

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Speaker 1: now viewing this as his death was so that he

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Speaker 1: can be a vehicle for change, right, that his story

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Speaker 1: can be a vehicle for change, and that her mission

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Speaker 1: is to now try and make sure that this never

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Speaker 1: happens to anyone else again, to make sure that a

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Speaker 1: mother never has to mourn in this way again because

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Speaker 1: of a senseless police killing. Right. I think that that's heavy,

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Speaker 1: but it's also a real world example of people using

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Speaker 1: their pain for good and using it as fuel, right,

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Speaker 1: using all of the pent up energy, the anger that

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Speaker 1: is inside of them, and then figuring out a positive

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Speaker 1: way to release it, a positive way to impact the world,

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Speaker 1: so that this tragedy at least has some sort of meaning.

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Speaker 1: And of course, I'm sure all the people were speaking

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Speaker 1: of would rather have their love one with them, But

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Speaker 1: this being the reality that we're faced with, right, and

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Speaker 1: that you have no choice but to practice resilience in

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Speaker 1: the face of this. How can I make something positive

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Speaker 1: of it? How can I make something of this pain?

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Speaker 1: And I think that's just a question we all need

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Speaker 1: to try to ask ourselves during those those tough moments,

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Speaker 1: and of course it's not an answer, it's not an

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Speaker 1: antidote for it. But at least we can always look at,

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Speaker 1: you know, the situation at hand, and know that we

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Speaker 1: are doing the best with man the cards that we

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Speaker 1: were dealt. Right now, to summarize man, I again love

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Speaker 1: this quote from from Most Deaf and that as line

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Speaker 1: always gets me. You can create beauty out of nothingness, right,

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Speaker 1: It's it's the idea of the people who are the

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Speaker 1: they have not figuring out a way to empower themselves

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Speaker 1: and using their situation, um, not as an excuse for

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Speaker 1: not being able to make their dreams come true, but

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Speaker 1: instead using it as as a means to get them

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Speaker 1: into the position that they want. And then Marcus Aurelius,

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Speaker 1: you know, talking about adapting yourself to the life that

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Speaker 1: you've been given, right, not not sitting here longing for

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Speaker 1: a better situation, not longing for that negative thing to

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Speaker 1: not have happened, but instead just constantly adapting yourself to

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Speaker 1: whatever has been thrown in front of you. And then

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Speaker 1: I think, with my journey, you know the fact of

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Speaker 1: me understanding the power in my story as difficult as

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Speaker 1: it is, you know, um as difficult as the experience

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Speaker 1: of battling mental health issues at times can be, understanding

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Speaker 1: that there's also power within that and that I've been

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Speaker 1: dealt this hand and I'm going to adapt in the

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Speaker 1: most positive way possible. Right again, I really just point

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Speaker 1: to that that quote from from Most Deaf talking about

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Speaker 1: hip hop. You know, it's a culture of survivors. You

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Speaker 1: can create beauty out of nothingness, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: we all have to keep in mind as we go

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Speaker 1: through life and things inevitably happen, you know, asking ourselves,

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Speaker 1: how can I make something of this pain? If you

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Speaker 1: want to get some more personal content, if you're inspired

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Speaker 1: by some of the things I've said, I just put

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Speaker 1: out a book called Just Be Just b dot NYC

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Speaker 1: is the website. You can go check that out, and

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Speaker 1: you know it's a deeper, I think understanding of all

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Speaker 1: things that I talk about, particularly if we're speaking about

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Speaker 1: mental health and talking about some of the darker points

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Speaker 1: and in life. I definitely suggest checking that out. Now.

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Speaker 1: With that said, thank y'all 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 discussed Today it's yea everyday life. Then

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Speaker 1: I'll catch you next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is

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Speaker 1: a production of iheart's Michael Pura podcast Network