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Speaker 1: What Up? I am Dramas and this is the Street

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Speaker 1: Stoic podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless Stoic

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Speaker 1: philosophy remixed 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. Now. Today's theme based upon ancient Stoic philosophy.

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Speaker 1: It is based around the idea of diminishing your egos.

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Speaker 1: And this one right here is coming maybe from a

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Speaker 1: bit of a surprising place. I'm not necessarily the biggest

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Speaker 1: fan of these two artists, but I think that I

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Speaker 1: was moved when I heard this song and I wanted

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Speaker 1: to share it with you. I felt like it matched

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Speaker 1: up so much with what we are talking about, this

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Speaker 1: idea of diminishing your ego. This song is therapy music

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Speaker 1: by Logic, and it's featuring Russ and I want to

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Speaker 1: take a bit from each of their verses. Now, Russ

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Speaker 1: starts the song offen and I love this little take

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Speaker 1: that he has because it's very introspective. He says, three

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Speaker 1: horrors before more being cracked. That was the life I

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Speaker 1: was leading back then, before I went to therapy and

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Speaker 1: we unpacked. I wasn't really needing that I was needing validation,

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Speaker 1: which I agree is whack. And then this idea of

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Speaker 1: validation that he is speaking on, you know, the idea

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Speaker 1: that he needed to have a bunch of women around

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Speaker 1: him as a means to make him feel like he

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Speaker 1: was somebody right. And I think all of us have

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Speaker 1: gone through this in our own way, in some way,

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Speaker 1: shape or form. Right. We may be dress a certain way,

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Speaker 1: we buy a certain car, we chase a certain job title,

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Speaker 1: just so that we feel validated in the eyes of others, right,

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Speaker 1: so that others give us that pat on the back

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Speaker 1: that our ego is so desperately searching for it. And

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Speaker 1: I love how the second verse of this song, when

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Speaker 1: when logic comes in, it's kind of the juxtaposition to

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Speaker 1: what Russ is saying. Right, you have logic saying I

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Speaker 1: keep my ego and check just me and this instrumental

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Speaker 1: pumping through this cassette deck money don't represent my rank. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: logic rose from Jack, But even the Titanic sank. I've

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Speaker 1: seen cats with egos bigger than cruise ships lose it.

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Speaker 1: And I love again that juxtaposition, talking about somebody who's

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Speaker 1: ego has gone so far that they end up losing

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Speaker 1: all that they worked for, right and logic, having that

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Speaker 1: self awareness to realize that this is something he has

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Speaker 1: to be keenly aware of, right to watch his ego

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Speaker 1: and not allow it to put him in positions that

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Speaker 1: potentially could make him lose all that he has worked

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Speaker 1: so hard for. And I love this line here. Now,

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Speaker 1: this isn't technically from one of the ancient Stokes. It's

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Speaker 1: actually from the author Ryan Holiday, who many people know

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Speaker 1: writes about these ancient Stoke philosophies, but from his book

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Speaker 1: Ego Is the Enemy. This line that I have highlighted

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Speaker 1: that I've read a million one times that says impressing

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Speaker 1: people is utterly different than being impressive, right, And I

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Speaker 1: think that that's so powerful, And I'll say it again,

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Speaker 1: Impressing people is utterly different than being impressive. And you

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Speaker 1: you think about this time that we exist in this

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Speaker 1: internet culture that we exist in, right, the idea of

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Speaker 1: of internet cloud, right, and you see what happens to

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Speaker 1: a lot of these different characters on the Internet. Right.

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Speaker 1: They are here today and gone tomorrow because they're not

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Speaker 1: creating anything of substance or actual meaning with this attention

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Speaker 1: that they've garnered. They're creating things that are are for

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Speaker 1: the lists and that we easily forget about, right and

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Speaker 1: nothing that has the ability to last or create an

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Speaker 1: actual impact. And when you think about the reason behind

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Speaker 1: why these people are are here today god tomorrow, think

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Speaker 1: about their their intentions. What is the thing that is

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Speaker 1: pushing them towards, you know, getting this sort of attention.

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Speaker 1: It's often times their ego. They want to be recognized,

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Speaker 1: they want to be famous, and all of that is

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Speaker 1: your ego speaking right at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: you know, what is a platform if you're doing nothing

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Speaker 1: with it? That That's something that I ask myself constantly, right,

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Speaker 1: I put myself in check to try and be doing

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Speaker 1: things that are that are bigger than just myself, right,

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Speaker 1: and to not take for granted the the fact that

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Speaker 1: I've been blessed with some sort of a platform, and

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Speaker 1: to make sure that it doesn't just serve me in

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Speaker 1: any vain insecurities that I might be living with. Right,

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Speaker 1: And and listen, this whole conversation of diminishing your ego

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Speaker 1: is something that I've had to have a conversation with myself. Right.

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Speaker 1: I relate to this especially really when I was younger

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Speaker 1: and coming up as a as a DJ right, like

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be the guy that that easily walked

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Speaker 1: into the clubs and nobody hassled, that people were buying drinks,

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Speaker 1: that everybody was dapping up as he walked in, right,

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Speaker 1: And that was how I measured my success in this world,

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Speaker 1: was by the attention that I was getting from others

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Speaker 1: or even you know, when it came to women. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not proud of it, but I can remember the

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Speaker 1: days of when I would go out with my friends

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Speaker 1: to the bar, to the club. You know, I would

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Speaker 1: beat myself up if I didn't pick up a girl

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Speaker 1: at the bar or the club because I needed that validation.

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Speaker 1: I needed to feel desired by someone else. Because I

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Speaker 1: didn't think so highly of myself or my ego, was

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Speaker 1: just starving for more and more attention, and obviously that's

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Speaker 1: no way to live your life. I lacked so much

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Speaker 1: presence in the time that I was spending maybe out

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Speaker 1: with my friends or wasting time just doing nonsense, and

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Speaker 1: and even in my career, you know, spending time with

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Speaker 1: people that I didn't necessarily like, or spending money just

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Speaker 1: to impress people just so I could feel like I

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Speaker 1: was so one, just so they would take me seriously.

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Speaker 1: It was all about making decisions based upon how other

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Speaker 1: people would perceive me, rather than making decisions based upon

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Speaker 1: what was actually making me happy. And that was my

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Speaker 1: ego leading the way. And I had to have a

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Speaker 1: very serious conversation with myself and check myself about the

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Speaker 1: way that I was living life if I truly wanted

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Speaker 1: to be fulfilled, because allowing my ego to to be

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Speaker 1: in the driver's seat led me to feeling incredibly unfulfilled.

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Speaker 1: Right when I had those moments by myself, you know,

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Speaker 1: when it was quiet, I didn't feel great about myself,

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Speaker 1: and I knew I had to do something to correct that.

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Speaker 1: So I had to check myself. I had to have

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Speaker 1: that conversation with myself, and I think looking at that

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Speaker 1: quote from from Ryan Holiday and and understanding that I

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Speaker 1: wasn't in the business of creating anything that was truly great.

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Speaker 1: I just wanted the attention that came along with people

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Speaker 1: perceiving you as great. And that's just no way to

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Speaker 1: live a happy and and fulfilled life. Now, with that

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Speaker 1: in mind, I want to talk about some of the

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Speaker 1: steps that you can take to to maybe check yourself,

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Speaker 1: to find more clarity in your life. And to put

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Speaker 1: you on that path of fulfillment where your ego is

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Speaker 1: taking the back seat and your true, authentic self is

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Speaker 1: driving the vehicle. And will apply that as you make

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Speaker 1: this your mantra for today. But first let's take a

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Speaker 1: quick break and then we'll leap right back. All right,

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Speaker 1: So we're talking about the idea of diminishing your ego,

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Speaker 1: and I want to discuss how you can make this

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Speaker 1: your mantra for today. And I think first and foremost,

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Speaker 1: like I did, you have to take an honest look

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Speaker 1: at yourself and your life. Right. You have to ask

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Speaker 1: yourself what things am I doing to please others at

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Speaker 1: the expense of myself? And maybe it's spending more money

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Speaker 1: than you should on MATI a real things to impress others.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it's the career choice that you you've decided to

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Speaker 1: go down. Maybe it's your relationship, your lifestyle, whatever it

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Speaker 1: might be. Be honest with yourself. What things are you

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Speaker 1: doing that are holding you back from truly being authentically you.

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Speaker 1: On the flip side of that, right, maybe you are

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Speaker 1: are having a bit of of your ego taking over

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Speaker 1: like I did at certain aspects, and you might be

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Speaker 1: feeling yourself just a bit too much right now. You know,

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Speaker 1: maybe you're you're stepping on others to get what you want.

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Speaker 1: I think you have to you have to ask yourself

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Speaker 1: and have a real conversation with yourself, like am I

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Speaker 1: treating others with respect and kindness? Am I helping others

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Speaker 1: who are in need in the ways that I'm capable

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Speaker 1: of helping? The reality is we are all on borrowed

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Speaker 1: time here on this planet right and when we are

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Speaker 1: sharing this planet with one another, and I believe that

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Speaker 1: it is all of our duties to do our part

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Speaker 1: to contribute to a better world for our generation and

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Speaker 1: the ones to come. And that is choosing to live

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Speaker 1: a life that respects not only ourselves and our own happiness,

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Speaker 1: but one that also contributes in a positive way towards

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Speaker 1: the well being of others. Now, with that said, thank

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Speaker 1: you all so much for tuning into this episode. I

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Speaker 1: hope that this was inspiring and moving for you. And

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Speaker 1: there there's no shame whatsoever. And maybe your ego has

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Speaker 1: has taken the wheel for for just a bit of time. Right,

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Speaker 1: it happens to all of us. It will probably happen

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Speaker 1: to me again at some point in time. But these

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Speaker 1: honest conversations. Taking the time to to speak with yourself

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Speaker 1: and really zoom out and see what you are doing

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Speaker 1: are essential if you are trying to live that fulfilled

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Speaker 1: life as your true authentic self that I think you

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Speaker 1: are are all striving for, you know, with our our

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Speaker 1: limited time here on this earth. Now again, thank you

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Speaker 1: for tuning in, and I'll catch you all next time.

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Speaker 1: The Street Stoke podcast is a production of Heart's Michael

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Speaker 1: Toura Podcast Network m