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Speaker 1: Take a deep breath in through your nose. Holds it.

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Speaker 2: Now, release slowly again deep in, helle.

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Speaker 3: Hold release, repeating internally to yourself as you connect to

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Speaker 3: my voice.

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Speaker 4: I am deeply well. I am deeply well. I am

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Speaker 4: deeply I'm Debbie Brown and this is the Deeply Well Podcast.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Deeply Well, a soft place to land on

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Speaker 2: your journey. A podcast for those that are curious, creative,

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Speaker 2: and ready to expand in higher consciousness and self care.

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Speaker 1: I'm Debbie Brown.

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Speaker 2: This is where we heal, this is where we transform.

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Speaker 2: All month long, we have been diving into the inner workings.

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Speaker 1: Of self and creativity.

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Speaker 2: How to summon the sacred, how to invoke the muse,

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Speaker 2: and how to get so clear in your own channel

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Speaker 2: and connection to the divine that you're able to really

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Speaker 2: lock into your life's work with balance, with ease, with purpose,

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Speaker 2: with strength. This episode, I am so excited to share

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Speaker 2: this incredibly special person with you, who takes up space

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Speaker 2: in the world literally answering the call to everything that

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Speaker 2: I just listed. In two thousand and nine, at just

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Speaker 2: fourteen years old, Willie Green founded We the Urban. He

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Speaker 2: founded it from his bedroom in North Carolina, and what

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Speaker 2: began as an online community celebrating fashion and art, notably

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Speaker 2: championing black creativity. Soon became Tumblr's first blog to transform

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Speaker 2: into a nationally syndicated print magazine.

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Speaker 1: Evolving with time.

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Speaker 2: Willie shifted towards a more vulnerable, authentic, emotionally intelligent content strategy,

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Speaker 2: offering daily, introspective and inspirational messages, often stemming from his

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Speaker 2: own real time, real life experiences. These resonated worldwide, particularly

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Speaker 2: during twenty twenty, as We the Urban emerged as a

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Speaker 2: sanctuary for millions seeking comfort and healing through life's challenges.

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Speaker 2: We the Urban is now one of the biggest mental

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Speaker 2: health platforms on social media from marginalized voices today, with

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Speaker 2: over one billion impressions across Instagram. Over the years, We

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Speaker 2: the Urban stands as one of social media's largest destinations

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Speaker 2: for empowerment, guiding the world towards self discovery and resilience

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Speaker 2: under Willy's leadership as founder, writer, and designer, Willie's reaction

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Speaker 2: posts for the post election were some of the most

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Speaker 2: viewed posts on Instagram with over one hundred million impressions

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Speaker 2: and engagement, and The New York Times highlighted this following

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Speaker 2: its release on October eighth, twenty twenty four, Willie's debut book,

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Speaker 2: Not Sure Who Needs to Hear This but quickly became

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Speaker 2: a national bestseller, appearing on USA Today, Amazon, and Barnes

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Speaker 2: and Noble bestseller lists. This milestone marks just the beginning

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Speaker 2: of a transformative journey for We the Urban, with an

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Speaker 2: exciting future on the horizon, soon to expand into calendars,

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Speaker 2: affirmation card decks, journals, and other self care products.

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Speaker 1: We the Urban is on track to.

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Speaker 2: Cement itself as an innovative powerhouse in the self care space,

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Speaker 2: blending both digital and physical products to inspire and uplift.

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Speaker 1: Today, with over.

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Speaker 2: One billion impressions on Instagram, We the Urban stands as

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Speaker 2: one of social media's largest and most influential platforms for empowerment,

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Speaker 2: guiding a global communit unity towards self discovery and emotional

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Speaker 2: resilience under Willy Green's visionary leadership.

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Speaker 1: Willie, Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 5: Wow, thank you for having me. I feel so honored

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Speaker 5: to be on this platform. I've seen your work before,

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Speaker 5: and I'm just glad to be in a safe space

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Speaker 5: as I'm popping out for the first time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes you got to pop out.

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Speaker 2: And okay, okay, I mean Wow. Wow, how does it

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Speaker 2: feel hearing all of that out loud?

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Speaker 5: It's wild, It's really wild because there's just been so

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Speaker 5: much solitude and just like keeping my head down, simplifying

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Speaker 5: my life. So aside from like my small group of

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Speaker 5: friends and my family, I'm relatively alone with my dog

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Speaker 5: creating a lot. So it's kind of hard to see

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Speaker 5: or feel that impact, and it's something I'm still grappling with,

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Speaker 5: the just the magnitude and how everything has grown. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: I feel so grateful and I see it now as

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Speaker 5: a gift. And I know that now when you understand

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Speaker 5: your gift, you kind of have a responsibility to live

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Speaker 5: up to it, to respect it. So even though it's

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Speaker 5: a lot, I'm up for the challenge.

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Speaker 1: Can we talk about that a lotness?

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Speaker 5: Please? Please? Because the overwhelming nature of it all.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's so interesting because I think something I've observed

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Speaker 2: is when you are when you are designed to be

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Speaker 2: a lighthouse for others, right, which is such a sacred post.

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Speaker 2: It's such a sacred birthright. And we're all here for

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Speaker 2: various reasons, but not everybody is here to be the lighthouse, right,

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Speaker 2: And so when.

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Speaker 1: You do occupy that space and bring so much freedom

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Speaker 1: to people's hearts. There is also this feeling of maybe

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Speaker 1: parentship that you have, you know, over.

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Speaker 2: The collective, and this expectation sometimes of you to be

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Speaker 2: kind of the all knowing, the all scene and the

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Speaker 2: always available, And people can't always necessarily understand because when

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Speaker 2: your work is invocative to the feeling, it's hard to

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Speaker 2: think of the practicality for the creator.

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Speaker 1: But how is that balance of really.

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Speaker 2: Being a called to serve but then being someone who

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Speaker 2: is worthy of your own human experience too?

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Speaker 5: Wow? Well, thank you so much for that level of consciousness.

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Speaker 5: I don't think I've ever in my life I've been

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Speaker 5: asked a question like this, Because there is, and as

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Speaker 5: the platform grows and my career gets bigger, there is this.

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Speaker 5: I do feel that all of that, this needing to

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Speaker 5: say the perfect thing, or understanding how people perceive me

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Speaker 5: and have me on this certain pedestal, and really I

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Speaker 5: am just like everyone else, just trying to figure it out.

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Speaker 5: And it doesn't feel like a burden. It actually like,

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Speaker 5: especially as time has gone by since twenty twenty, which

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Speaker 5: was the whole resurgence of We the Urban, they've actually,

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Speaker 5: like my audience and community have actually sort of saved

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Speaker 5: me in a way because I have bipolar and I

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Speaker 5: go through my own mental struggles and sometimes it's hard

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Speaker 5: for me to find center. And I realized that, like

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Speaker 5: showing up for them is my center. So if I'm

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Speaker 5: ever lost, it's like create and show up for your people.

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Speaker 5: And I think about my audience so much. It is

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Speaker 5: a genuine love. And it's also kind of weird because

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Speaker 5: I don't know who I Yeah, you know, they're here

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Speaker 5: for we the urban and not like me and my presence,

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Speaker 5: which is why it's also so cool to now be

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Speaker 5: trying to bridge that gap. But it's something I've learned

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Speaker 5: that is it's a blessing. And it's like I figured

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Speaker 5: out that when you have a big microphone and a

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Speaker 5: big platform, you might as well say something liberating, say

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Speaker 5: something that will help someone, say something productive because there's

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Speaker 5: so much noise on the Internet. And I realized that

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Speaker 5: a part of my mession is sort of like cutting

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Speaker 5: through the bs that we scroll by thousands of times

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Speaker 5: a day. So I'm grateful. It's not easy, and you know,

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Speaker 5: I've seen it show up in my personal relationships as well,

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Speaker 5: and it's kind of different like meeting new people or

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Speaker 5: even going on dates because there's just this relationship that

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Speaker 5: they've built with me based off of what they see

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Speaker 5: on Instagram and you know, aside from the reality of me. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: but all in all, I feel so lucky to have

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Speaker 5: a platform and people to show up for.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for pulling back these layers because I have

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Speaker 2: more to say here, but there's other places that now

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Speaker 2: I'm like, we have.

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Speaker 1: A path forward. We got to talk about let's.

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Speaker 2: Go, let's go you know something something that we talked about,

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Speaker 2: and thank you for sharing your consent off camera with.

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Speaker 1: Me to kind of go into this space.

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Speaker 2: But you know, operating with this big mission and then

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Speaker 2: also having that diagnosis, how has your life kind of

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Speaker 2: expanded or flowed being able to kind of understand how

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Speaker 2: you're wired and designed better?

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Speaker 5: Wow, Well, my journey to figuring out like what was

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Speaker 5: going on in my brain and all of the chemical

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Speaker 5: imbalances was really long, really long, and we either rb it,

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Speaker 5: Like getting to this place has been really long. This

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Speaker 5: is my life's work that I started at thirteen and

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Speaker 5: I'm thirty and now finally doing podcasts and doing all

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Speaker 5: these things. And a lot of those first like ten

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Speaker 5: years was me wondering like what is going on? And

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Speaker 5: I realized that I was experiencing so many different symptoms

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Speaker 5: like the first one maybe around like twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen.

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Speaker 5: It was just I went through this season of why

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Speaker 5: can't Why does it take superhuman strength to just get

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Speaker 5: out of the bed and do the basics of taking

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Speaker 5: care of myself? Why do I have all these ideas?

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Speaker 5: Then I sit down to do it and I lose

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Speaker 5: focus in like two seconds and I can't complete a

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Speaker 5: full task, or like why do I feel like really

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Speaker 5: sad for really prolonged amounts of time or fall into

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Speaker 5: negative thought spirals? So I think around eighteen I went

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Speaker 5: to like I was such a novice. I was looking

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Speaker 5: for a psychiatrist. But I went to a therapist and

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Speaker 5: didn't understand why she couldn't give me a diagnosis. And

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Speaker 5: then I finally found a psychiatrist and explained to them

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Speaker 5: my symptoms. And I remember something that is stuck with

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Speaker 5: me since that time was I walked in and I

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Speaker 5: sat down, and before we even discussed like any of

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Speaker 5: my symptoms or anything, she told me, I know, whatever

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Speaker 5: you're going through is real because I have never seen

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Speaker 5: a young black man come in my office in like

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Speaker 5: all of her years, and that clicked in me because

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Speaker 5: this is also right before the Me Too movement, which

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Speaker 5: fostered also a conversation about mental health and just a

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Speaker 5: whole new paradigm on the Internet. So I was kind

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Speaker 5: of thugging it out, and I was put on the

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Speaker 5: wrong medications. I was misdiagnosed with add or eighty eight.

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Speaker 5: And sometimes it's a process and a really long process,

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Speaker 5: and I understand why people either give up or don't

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Speaker 5: want to try, because I was put on the wrong medications.

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Speaker 5: I was put on things that like actually made what

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Speaker 5: I was going through much worse. So the final thing

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Speaker 5: they or medication they put me on was adderall And

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Speaker 5: anyone with bipolar knows that adderall, like all it does

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Speaker 5: is induce a manic state, so and it makes it

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Speaker 5: hard for you to really just be grounded and understand

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Speaker 5: what is going on. So I went through a nine

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Speaker 5: month rampage, like acting on impulse, doing like reckless things

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Speaker 5: like excessive partying and just excess excess and not working,

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Speaker 5: not feeling creatively in tune with myself, and I hit

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Speaker 5: a wall. I hit a wall, and that was the

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Speaker 5: like the day I decided to like end. That was

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Speaker 5: the exact day that I googled bipolar spirit or something

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Speaker 5: told me, and at that time, Google had like this

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Speaker 5: image that basically showed what the two sides of bipolar like,

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Speaker 5: sometimes you're really up, sometimes you're really down. And I

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Speaker 5: saw and read and was just like, thank God, finally

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Speaker 5: it has been years. It has been years, and we

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Speaker 5: are here now that I understand now that now that

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Speaker 5: I have the tools and the information, I can fix this.

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Speaker 5: So I finally And it took some time to figure

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Speaker 5: out like what medications helped with or were the most

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Speaker 5: effective for me, and it changed everything. It changed everything.

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Speaker 5: I finally had the fortitude and the focus and discipline

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Speaker 5: to do what I needed to do in my life

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Speaker 5: to get to this point. And that took moving to

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Speaker 5: La with a dollar and a dream with my best

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Speaker 5: friend at the time, and really trying to cultivate a

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Speaker 5: work ethic. And so the journey to figure out what

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Speaker 5: was going on was a long time. The journey to stabilize.

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Speaker 5: Once I found a foundation, it was like the catalyst

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Speaker 5: to all of this. And now I've realized that, like

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Speaker 5: taking care of my mental health is a part of

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Speaker 5: my job, so it's a lot of work, but it's

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Speaker 5: also really rewarding and a very like even reciprocal healing experience,

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Speaker 5: because even though they can't see me that it does

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Speaker 5: something to you. When you get hundreds and thousands of

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Speaker 5: comments and messages of people like I'm going through it too,

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Speaker 5: I feel it too, there's something really healing in it

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Speaker 5: for me. So it's been an interesting journey and it's

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Speaker 5: ever evolving. I found out a year ago that I

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Speaker 5: had OCD, which I didn't know manifested as thoughts and

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Speaker 5: like racing thoughts, and you know if you go through

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Speaker 5: I went through a breakup and I couldn't understand why,

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Speaker 5: like months later, even when I wasn't thinking about this

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Speaker 5: person or the situation, I was like, it was just

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Speaker 5: always there. And now I'm figuring that out. So it's

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Speaker 5: something I'm also open to learning more. It's a journey,

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Speaker 5: but a rewarding one.

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Speaker 2: There's so much and I know those listening right now,

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Speaker 2: this is going into so many different chambers and compartments

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Speaker 2: for who needs it.

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Speaker 1: There's so much. There's just so much to what you said.

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Speaker 1: One I'm so.

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Speaker 2: Grateful to hear you describe the process to getting your

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Speaker 2: best fit right like if you are finding if you're

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Speaker 2: on the path of saying I'm realizing that there is

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Speaker 2: something going on that I want to investigate and seek

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Speaker 2: support for that even in the seeking support, you may

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Speaker 2: not get it right the first time, because I think

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Speaker 2: sometimes that can.

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Speaker 1: Be so crushing.

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Speaker 2: You know, if you feel like you're going into a

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Speaker 2: medical doctor and you want to be seen and helped,

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Speaker 2: there is this process of discovery that sometimes does really

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Speaker 2: have to take place because it can feel so defeating

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Speaker 2: if you get the wrong meds or if you're getting

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Speaker 2: the wrong diagnosis, and then it's like, Okay, now I

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Speaker 2: want to remove myself completely because y'all can't keep doing

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Speaker 2: this with me. I can't keep being laid bare or

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Speaker 2: being this vulnerable and open and not.

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Speaker 1: Get what I need.

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Speaker 2: But to be able to have the fortitude to sit

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Speaker 2: kind of at the bottom of the ocean with that

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Speaker 2: process and like find find the right road. And then

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Speaker 2: also something I'm hearing in what you're saying, which I'm

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Speaker 2: so curious about, is when you do find out right

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Speaker 2: because I think myself and my own journey, I had

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Speaker 2: a similar experience, but with my chronic pain and autoimmune

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Speaker 2: and being able to be believed being able to find

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Speaker 2: what it is that's wrong. It just takes so much time,

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Speaker 2: and you're explaining to every new person you meet, and

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Speaker 2: it's like, at least for me, I'm trying to.

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Speaker 1: Be like such a good steward of myself.

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Speaker 2: So I'm like, okay, well here's my trauma list and

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Speaker 2: these are this, and so this is what happened.

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Speaker 1: And I learned this yere, and you know, like you're just.

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Speaker 2: You're trying to be so like astute showing up for yourself.

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Speaker 2: So it's just that in general is just so powerful.

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Speaker 2: And I know so many people listening have been coming

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Speaker 2: to new understandings of what they may have thought was

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Speaker 2: like a deficiency in them or a brokenness in them,

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Speaker 2: or something that people didn't understand about them.

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Speaker 1: And then you find that very often these are our.

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Speaker 5: Powers, our superpowers. Yeah, yes, I'm so glad you said that.

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Speaker 2: And coming into that space of understanding that like this

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Speaker 2: isn't about what is wrong with me.

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Speaker 1: This is about like what is actually a gift about me.

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Speaker 1: I just need to.

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Speaker 2: Find the right levels for it or the way to

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Speaker 2: support it in the way it needs to be cared.

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Speaker 5: Four.

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Speaker 1: How is that unfolded for you.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I realized a really long time ago that everything

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Speaker 5: I had been experiencing, the mania, the depression, and luckily

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Speaker 5: I had more of a mouth form. There's many different

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Speaker 5: types of bipolar and intensities. But I was a really

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Speaker 5: young teenager thirteen fourteen on Tumblr, but I was posting

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Speaker 5: like ten times a day. I was editing a magazine

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Speaker 5: and commissioning photoshoots from like the bathroom in school in

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Speaker 5: high school, and wow, I would wake up at seven

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Speaker 5: am and then at school, get home at three, and

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Speaker 5: then I go to bed at like four after working

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Speaker 5: that entire time. And maybe that's not the most healthy.

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Speaker 5: And I didn't know like why I could like do that,

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Speaker 5: but I realized, like, oh, that was the bipolar. You

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Speaker 5: were in like a little bit of a hypomanic state

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Speaker 5: while you were doing all that. That's why we're like

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Speaker 5: doing super super human superhuman things. And shirt has its pitfalls,

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Speaker 5: but clearly it had its advantages as well. And even

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Speaker 5: with the OCD, I realized, maybe that's why I'll never

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Speaker 5: have Maybe that's why I'll never have like wait, what

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Speaker 5: am I? What word am I searching for? Not a

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Speaker 5: deficient deficiency? That is why I'll always have something to

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Speaker 5: talk about. I realized that I put out ten slides,

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Speaker 5: ten different thoughts a day, and to do that for

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Speaker 5: years and years, I'm like, oh, no, wonder it's because

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Speaker 5: my mind goes really fast and it thinks a lot

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Speaker 5: and comes to a lot of conclusions, and it's always

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Speaker 5: dissecting things. So it's another part of the genius of

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Speaker 5: the work. So I think with with introspection and a

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Speaker 5: treatment plan which is beyond medication, there's it's a lifestyle. Really,

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Speaker 5: I think anyone could see how it actually benefits them.

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Speaker 3: Deeply well.

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Speaker 1: To be alive right now and to understand that, like none.

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Speaker 2: Of us have to be the same, you know, like

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Speaker 2: just none of us have to be the same about

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Speaker 2: anything for any reason. It is about utilizing how we

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Speaker 2: are designed to be with our creativity, to be with

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Speaker 2: our work.

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Speaker 1: But it's always in service. It's always in service to

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Speaker 1: the greater good.

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Speaker 2: And I think I love to study great masters of

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Speaker 2: different times, that includes like teachers to philosophers to painters.

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Speaker 5: Do you all the time?

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, utterly, like just.

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Speaker 2: Leave me home all day and like let me study

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Speaker 2: and research things. But you know, and you've probably found

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Speaker 2: this in your studies. Like, the thing to me that

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Speaker 2: is always so remarkable is so many of our greats

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Speaker 2: had been these ticks about them or these things that

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Speaker 2: made them them. And it makes perfect sense. You have

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Speaker 2: to be that disconnected from the zeitgeist, like that disconnected

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Speaker 2: from the collective of whatever time, to make the work

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Speaker 2: that stands the test of time, to make the work

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Speaker 2: that changes things and creates those paradigm shifts. But when

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Speaker 2: you think about you know, even so many of the

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Speaker 2: great profits of our time throughout history seem to have

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Speaker 2: suffered from nervous system disorders. When you read certain scriptures,

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Speaker 2: when you read certain passages or books or recordings of

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Speaker 2: you know, they speak to the nervous energy that was present,

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Speaker 2: or the anxiety that was present. And the more I've

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Speaker 2: been on my own path, I realized, well, of course

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Speaker 2: they were anxious. Of course their nervous systems were dysregulated.

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Speaker 2: They were bringing truth to the earth in a time

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Speaker 2: when people didn't necessarily want that truth right. And it's

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Speaker 2: like same thing with our great painters. You think of

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Speaker 2: how then Go was tortured right, and what it took

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Speaker 2: to get.

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Speaker 1: That art out, and all of our great writers. When

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Speaker 1: you really look at what people have written, the James Baldwins,

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Speaker 1: Nikki Giovanni, the Maya an as Nan, Yeah, the Maya Angelous.

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Speaker 2: There is the undercurrent of pain, there is the undercurrent

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Speaker 2: of exhaustion with humanity, and there's the undercurrent of exhaustion

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Speaker 2: in the physical body.

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Speaker 1: Or in the mind or in the heart.

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Speaker 2: And so it's yeah, it's just it's really powerful for

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Speaker 2: you to describe your journey, because this is really the

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Speaker 2: journey of light, This is the journey of the creator.

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Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you for saying that. I do the same.

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Speaker 5: I research a lot and I found the same that

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Speaker 5: a lot of our greatest minds, greatest inventors, people that

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Speaker 5: have changed society, they experienced a lot. I remember reading

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Speaker 5: about Maya Angelo for the first time, and she went

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Speaker 5: through a really traumatic experience as a child, and I

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Speaker 5: think no one believed her or she spoke out and

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Speaker 5: it led to someone's just a very sad situation, but

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Speaker 5: it made her mute herself for five years, and somewhere

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Speaker 5: in like somewhere in her and having that era of solitude,

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Speaker 5: she found her voice and that voice ended up changing.

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Speaker 5: That voice she muted ended up changing the world. And

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Speaker 5: I also think of Nina Simone, who also was one

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Speaker 5: of the first people, and her documentary on Netflix is amazing,

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Speaker 5: But I learned that she had bipolar as well, and

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Speaker 5: she was like the sound of the civil rights movement.

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Speaker 5: And then the more I think of these people, the

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Speaker 5: more I think of identity and being a black queer

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Speaker 5: creator and just even how I'm stepping out now is

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Speaker 5: just sort of rebelling against what's happened to me and

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Speaker 5: my community, and oftentimes we are. If we look at

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Speaker 5: history the most influential in many different ways. We think

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Speaker 5: of Francis Thomas or Thompson I believe it is her name,

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Speaker 5: a formerly enslaved black trans woman who was the first

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Speaker 5: trans woman to testify in Congress, I believe from Memphis,

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Speaker 5: and that testimony led to a bigger conversation around civil rights,

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Speaker 5: which eventually led to the Fourteenth Amendment situation, which literally

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Speaker 5: gave us protections and freedom that this race has never

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Speaker 5: seen before. We see Rustin who was like the brain

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Speaker 5: and the engine behind the MLK movement. We see Martha P.

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Speaker 5: Johnson who pride that is her that is because a

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Speaker 5: black trans woman, and there's been this erasure of them,

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Speaker 5: and I think it's a shame, and I I don't

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Speaker 5: want to be a part of that. There's something powerful

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Speaker 5: and all of these millions of people all over the

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Speaker 5: world knowing that they're ingesting meaning and getting inspired by

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Speaker 5: and reading life through the lens of a black queer person.

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Speaker 5: I now see the power and stepping out. So when

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Speaker 5: I do things like this, it's more it's not vanity.

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00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,359
Speaker 5: It's I think of all the people like me that

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Speaker 5: are going to see this and be like, hey, actually

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00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 5: look at the possibilities. I could be there too. So totally,

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Speaker 5: I think there's so much in history we can learn from.

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Speaker 5: Its valuable. That was lot. I wasn't ready to do

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Speaker 5: a history lesson. No more.

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Speaker 2: No, it's so good, and I just like something I'm

408
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 2: feeling grateful for this conversation is I think it is

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Speaker 2: so important. We're talking about this a little bit before

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00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 2: the show, where I struggle with this idea of having

411
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 2: to feed people thoughts and content all day because I

412
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 2: live in the nuance, like I just love settling into

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00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:17,119
Speaker 2: the undercurrents right and everything that you're describing right now.

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Speaker 2: The reason that I know it's being felt so powerfully

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00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 2: by everyone listening is because it's such a layered view,

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00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,880
Speaker 2: like you're giving the complexity and the nuance of how

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00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 2: all these understandings come together. And it's so many things

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00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,159
Speaker 2: at once, you know, But yes, it's something I've been

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Speaker 2: I'm so curious your thoughts on this, really, you know,

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Speaker 2: It's like in human history, we are constantly swinging to

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Speaker 2: extreme ends with the pendulum, right. So it's like every

422
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 2: time we make advancements, it feels good and we think

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00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 2: things are changing, and then that thing will swing back

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00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 2: so far and it turns out we're only making like

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00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 2: or mental steps.

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Speaker 1: And I feel that because we have, especially.

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Speaker 2: Since kind of the onset of the Me Too movement,

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Speaker 2: we have been making so many conscious strides as a species,

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Speaker 2: like in our.

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Speaker 1: Evolution forward, right, like, we have.

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00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 2: Been putting under the microscope misogyny and the understanding of

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Speaker 2: patriarchy and feminism and abuses and abuses of power. Then

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00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 2: after that we're like quickly moving through this curriculum as people,

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00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 2: right Like, then we're being thrust into having global eyes

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00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,680
Speaker 2: on systemic racism and how it permeates the world. Then

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00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 2: we're finally having global eyes on the queer community on

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00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 2: the lbed.

438
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: Excuse me, I want to say this absolutely correctly, LGBTQ plus,

439
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ plus community, the trans community. It is like

440
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: it's been.

441
00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 2: So powerful, and then it also to me feels like

442
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,040
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, now things are swinging.

443
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: Backwards, and it's like, how do we hold space.

444
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 2: For that right for the progress and then sometimes what

445
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 2: feels like a failing that begins to happen in our consciousness.

446
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I feel that so much. And you know,

447
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 5: I know there's a full wide range of political spectrum

448
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,320
Speaker 5: and beliefs in the world and in this country, but

449
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 5: I don't think that there's anything wrong about standing up

450
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 5: for people's humanity, like basic humanity, basic respect of their truth.

451
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 5: That's where I lie on the political spectrum, and I

452
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 5: think I've used my platform and been very vocal more

453
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 5: so in the past, and now I'm getting back into

454
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 5: it as I see the world is needing that kind

455
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,560
Speaker 5: of reassurance and comfort and maybe just a nudge of

456
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 5: fortitude for them to keep going and to see things

457
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 5: in a different way, because there is an ebb and

458
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 5: a flow back and and forth, and it almost reminds

459
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 5: me of my own diagnosis up in the down nature

460
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 5: of it, And I know that there's a way to

461
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 5: exist through it and to find sanctuary in it. And

462
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,960
Speaker 5: we have countless examples of this through history as well,

463
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 5: of nothing is permanent, and sometimes sometimes there really is

464
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 5: no reason to believe, and you've got to hold on

465
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,160
Speaker 5: to blind faith and maybe a little bit of delusion

466
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 5: and just believing and better and more, even if it

467
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 5: doesn't feel like it, because if we all let go

468
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 5: of that, then you know what's next, how bad will

469
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 5: it get? Like someone has to still believe, and it

470
00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,160
Speaker 5: can be hard, especially for black people. You know, in

471
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 5: twenty twenty, the George Floyd situation and all of the

472
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 5: police brutality that was on the news and like hyper

473
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 5: magnified because we were all stuck on screens for two

474
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 5: three years and we saw this uprising of protests and

475
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 5: the Black squares and all these companies implementing DEI policies.

476
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:30,120
Speaker 5: And it's years later now we see companies stripping all

477
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:35,480
Speaker 5: the DEI. We see how much that was just performative

478
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,640
Speaker 5: and not real, And it feels like a slap in

479
00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,280
Speaker 5: the face this many years later to see this and

480
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 5: to see the direction of our country, and the only

481
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 5: thing I know to do is to figure out how

482
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 5: to put my mind in a place that's productive, because

483
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 5: sitting around in a dark place forever is not going

484
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 5: to change anything. It's not going to belize anybody.

485
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so true and it's so deep, and I

486
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 2: think where I've landed with life is that I just

487
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 2: accept darkness as a part of it.

488
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: You know, it's a part of being here.

489
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying we have to endure or be abused,

490
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 2: but that is part of what this human experience is.

491
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 2: And no one that has ever lived has ever got

492
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:29,000
Speaker 2: it right, you know, truly, there has.

493
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 1: Never been peace on earth ever.

494
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 2: So it's like not even looking to that as the ideal,

495
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 2: but looking at for me, it's like human dignity as

496
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 2: the ideal, you know, just decency, integrity as the ideal

497
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 2: to whatever extent you can muster it, whether you're in

498
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 2: darkness or light.

499
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I feel that it's an ebb and

500
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:57,000
Speaker 5: a flow and the yang of it all. And what's

501
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 5: beautiful is that we get to choose our perspective on it.

502
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:04,000
Speaker 1: We get to choose.

503
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, your work really focuses on enlightenment, inspiration,

504
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,719
Speaker 2: and empowerment. When did these concepts of self care and

505
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 2: well being really start to come to your life, and

506
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 2: specifically to the.

507
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:18,720
Speaker 1: Tone of we.

508
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 2: The urban is so incredibly direct, purposeful, yet deeply compassionate.

509
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,360
Speaker 1: It's a soft landing. I think when your eyes.

510
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 2: Land on your page, like when they land on even

511
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 2: the pages of your book, even the diffusion and the colors.

512
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 1: I'm like, Oh, he's regulating my nervous system. How kind

513
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 1: of you.

514
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you for saying that.

515
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 1: Yeah.

516
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,760
Speaker 5: Yeah, It's something that started really like in twenty twenty

517
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 5: when the world flipped upside down. It was the apocalypse

518
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,640
Speaker 5: that I was living in Hollywood, which is already just

519
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:02,480
Speaker 5: a very chaotic energy, and being stuck there, and then

520
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 5: I was in a wild living situation. So it got

521
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 5: to a point where I was like, all right, I

522
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 5: don't know what to do with all of these feelings,

523
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 5: so I'm just going to put them out there and

524
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 5: try to help people. And somewhere in all of this,

525
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 5: like mental health conversation, I realized like, oh, I need

526
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 5: to take care of myself. I can't show up for

527
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 5: others if I'm not making taking care of myself a priority.

528
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 5: I can't pour from an empty cup because I've done that,

529
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 5: and I know the consequences of that.

530
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 2: Well, especially coming from like a fashion background, coming from

531
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 2: like a really cultural orientated background, and coming into creating

532
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,480
Speaker 2: things that are really about like emotional intelligence, Like how

533
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,280
Speaker 2: did you decide that.

534
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 1: That could exist in the world you had created?

535
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 5: Yeah, I realized well number one, you know. And if

536
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 5: people'scrol back years, they'll see how the writing has improved

537
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 5: and the insight has gotten deeper as I've learned more

538
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:12,480
Speaker 5: in my journey and been through therapy finally, and obviously

539
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,320
Speaker 5: just continuing to keep taking care of myself a priority

540
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,719
Speaker 5: and processing what I'm going through. But I have this

541
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:27,279
Speaker 5: policy of always ending everything with productivity, something purposeful. So

542
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 5: it's like, yes, i might comment on the despair, I

543
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,359
Speaker 5: might tell you a little bit about yourself, I may

544
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 5: honor the dark things that you're experiencing, but I'll always

545
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:43,000
Speaker 5: give you something productive at the end. And maybe that's

546
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 5: because I need it too. I need I need a compass,

547
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,839
Speaker 5: and I didn't have one, so I decided to make it.

548
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:55,080
Speaker 5: And somewhere through like all of this consistent writing, that

549
00:35:55,400 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 5: whole process and intention just grew and grew, and I'm

550
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,360
Speaker 5: always taking an information in my life and a lot

551
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 5: from therapy when I tell you there's some of the

552
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,799
Speaker 5: best things I've ever written and have had the most engagement,

553
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 5: where like musings right after a therapy session. So and

554
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 5: I'm interested in I don't know why. I've always had

555
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,960
Speaker 5: a big ambition, even since a little kid. I was

556
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 5: just like I want to do something. I want to

557
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 5: be big, I want to change the world. Am I

558
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,400
Speaker 5: a singer? Am I a photographer? Like? Where is my lane?

559
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,760
Speaker 5: And I think it's so cool that when I leaned

560
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 5: into the purest authentic expression of myself, I got there

561
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 5: and it's all like really dope, Like it's helping people.

562
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:50,399
Speaker 5: It's really really helping people. So I've learned just through

563
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,040
Speaker 5: experience and through the writing and also seeing how important

564
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 5: this topic and niche is on the internet because there's

565
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,440
Speaker 5: so much. You know, there's like this culture on the

566
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 5: internet of like who can say the most funniest disrespectful

567
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,680
Speaker 5: thing about somebody who, Like who is the one we're

568
00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,319
Speaker 5: going to dog pile on today because they made a

569
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,880
Speaker 5: human mistake? Right, Like what negativity? Can I indulgence to

570
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 5: like not think about my own issues? And then it's

571
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,840
Speaker 5: a lot on the internet is people projecting. There's a

572
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,360
Speaker 5: lot of negativity because they're dealing with a lot in

573
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,480
Speaker 5: their lives and they need somewhere to just like get

574
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 5: it off and through all of that noise, there has

575
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:38,919
Speaker 5: to be something productive, something helping people's mental health. So

576
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,480
Speaker 5: I think that's where I found purpose, and just hearing

577
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:48,319
Speaker 5: people's stories about certain quotes, seeing how people live with

578
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,320
Speaker 5: them day to day and prioritize them and their health

579
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,799
Speaker 5: and share them with people. So it's just it's too

580
00:37:54,920 --> 00:38:02,840
Speaker 5: valuable of an angle to not lean into.

581
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: Deeply.

582
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 2: Well, the Internet tries to forget things really fast. But

583
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:16,280
Speaker 2: it's been interesting watching people who were kind of terrorizing

584
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,640
Speaker 2: people online like find the Light right, and now.

585
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:24,960
Speaker 1: It's like people that I think used to be like.

586
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,799
Speaker 2: Like read Culture one oh one, where you know, like

587
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,799
Speaker 2: the content they made was about tearing down whoever was

588
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 2: in the news. I've been seeing so many people make

589
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 2: these shifts into like I want a soft life, where

590
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 2: like we need to treat each other better, and you know,

591
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:42,359
Speaker 2: for I think for the people that that is their

592
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:46,239
Speaker 2: real kind of genuine, authentic experience that they might have

593
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 2: come through through a lot of self reflection. It's like welcome,

594
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,880
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you're here, thank finally, thank you for

595
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:55,920
Speaker 2: coming to the light. And then there's others that you're like,

596
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 2: oh and and this is the pivot because that's no

597
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,400
Speaker 2: longer on brand, right, like it's on brand to be

598
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:04,120
Speaker 2: positive or it's on brand too.

599
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:06,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's interesting.

600
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 2: But I think no matter what in the sea of expression,

601
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,080
Speaker 2: people will always find what their heart is meant to

602
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:17,279
Speaker 2: find or what resonates you know. Yeah, but it's it's

603
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,760
Speaker 2: been really interesting. I think even just watching the digital

604
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 2: unfolding about the way the way that we hold space

605
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 2: for each other now, like the kind of comments that

606
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,400
Speaker 2: are left now. I remember when I first put myself

607
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 2: on the internet. I'm older than you, so it was

608
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:34,720
Speaker 2: you know, I was just a baby. But I remember

609
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,440
Speaker 2: one of the first times I put like an interview

610
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 2: of mine on the internet.

611
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:41,920
Speaker 1: It was the night Barack Obama.

612
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 2: Got elected, and it was YouTube and there was no

613
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 2: there was no Instagram at the time or anything like that.

614
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 1: Twitter had just started. Yeah, it was like MySpace and YouTube.

615
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 2: And I remember, like I was, I was so proud

616
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,879
Speaker 2: of this interview as on some music video said and

617
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 2: it was beautifully done. And I go on YouTube and

618
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:08,120
Speaker 2: one hundred percent of the comments were males telling me

619
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 2: that they wanted to like beat me in the face

620
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:11,720
Speaker 2: with a rock and like put me in a trunk,

621
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 2: like literally that, and I remember, like that had such

622
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:17,440
Speaker 2: an effect on me. Then I'm so sorry. That was

623
00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 2: a very heavy description. I did not mean to throw

624
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,440
Speaker 2: that out there, but I say it with such ease

625
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 2: and casualness because I'm safe, fine and happy. And this

626
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,880
Speaker 2: was fifteen years ago, but I remember like the effect

627
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,040
Speaker 2: that that had on me because at the time I

628
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,879
Speaker 2: was on the radio, but I also ran the community show,

629
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:39,719
Speaker 2: and I was trying to make broadcasting content that was

630
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 2: more like my idols, mister Rogers and LeVar Burton and

631
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 2: you know, some.

632
00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 1: Of those great teachers of kindness.

633
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 2: And then you're doing these things that you're proud of

634
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 2: and people are like wishing death on you in really

635
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,920
Speaker 2: horrible ways. And that's just how so much of the

636
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,919
Speaker 2: internet landscape looked back then. Like even if you saw

637
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,600
Speaker 2: something beautiful, the responses and the comments with like invokes

638
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,600
Speaker 2: sometimes the worst and the human spirit.

639
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 1: So even being.

640
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:13,560
Speaker 2: Able to digitally watch our collective progression and how we

641
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:17,840
Speaker 2: feel about ourselves and what we think is okay to

642
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,279
Speaker 2: throw on to other people it's been interesting watching that

643
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,359
Speaker 2: shift in consciousness too, you know, not just in what

644
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 2: people are creating, but how people will let themselves receive

645
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 2: the creations.

646
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 5: Of others exactly. Well, first of all, I'm sorry you

647
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 5: experienced that. Thank you, And unfortunately I can relate. Yeah,

648
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 5: I just got a death threat like two days ago

649
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 5: in my email. I've heard people call for me to

650
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 5: be flogged and start like crazy things, and I'm just like,

651
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 5: all I do is put out positively. Are you okay?

652
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:58,040
Speaker 2: But yeah, you're like, I'm helping you heal, You are welcome.

653
00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,840
Speaker 5: You're well, like what did I do? And Yeah, it's

654
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:06,000
Speaker 5: something that has been something that's been really challenging because

655
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,920
Speaker 5: especially when it comes to political things. I just did

656
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:13,799
Speaker 5: a post that went viral on election day and it

657
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 5: had a very clear point of view, and there's obviously

658
00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:20,840
Speaker 5: that group that doesn't agree, and it is a lot

659
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 5: to read vile in those vile things you've ever seen

660
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:29,480
Speaker 5: about yourself or towards you. And that is why I

661
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 5: am such a champion for seeing your digital space as

662
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:37,560
Speaker 5: your home, your digital home and protecting it as such.

663
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,439
Speaker 5: So if you were to see my blocklist, you could

664
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 5: scroll for hours. Block block block, follow unfollow.

665
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, you lose the right exactly.

666
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 5: Yeah. So that's how I've found some sort of piece and.

667
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,520
Speaker 2: Really yeah, I would love to hear Willie about some

668
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 2: of your crew creative process and your self care. How

669
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,240
Speaker 2: do you kind of nurture the gift?

670
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:12,239
Speaker 5: Yeah, I got to keep the vessel clear. Yeah. So

671
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 5: step one is like, are you getting enough water? What

672
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,840
Speaker 5: kind of are you eating? Nutritious foods? Like, let's think

673
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 5: about your brain health. What supplements are you taking your

674
00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:29,600
Speaker 5: glutithio because you're getting a little older. Okay, all of that,

675
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 5: all of that.

676
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:32,560
Speaker 1: I just got my little shot.

677
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:36,160
Speaker 5: It might be twelve, okay today, you get it. You

678
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:39,000
Speaker 5: get it. So it's like figuring out how to be

679
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 5: as clear as possible.

680
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:40,919
Speaker 2: Yeah.

681
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,800
Speaker 5: I go on like this same three mile walk every

682
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,640
Speaker 5: single day, well most days, and it's where I get

683
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,160
Speaker 5: to just like and I don't take my phone, just

684
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,560
Speaker 5: have my little Apple watch in my music, and it's

685
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:55,560
Speaker 5: where I get to like get it all out and

686
00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:58,960
Speaker 5: think and process. People probably think people walking by I

687
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 5: probably think I'm in saying because I like talk to

688
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:04,760
Speaker 5: myself out loud and I really just try to get

689
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 5: all of anything clogging the source in the vessel just away,

690
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:14,040
Speaker 5: and then I'm someone that like, I don't know why,

691
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:17,000
Speaker 5: I'm like a night owl person. Most of the things

692
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,320
Speaker 5: I write are in real time, like the night before,

693
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:26,719
Speaker 5: and I kind of wait sometimes until that feeling of oh,

694
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:28,719
Speaker 5: I got to write, I have something to say. Just

695
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 5: honoring that creative nulge has been really helpful and enacting

696
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,200
Speaker 5: discipline in it a certain level of work ethic, which

697
00:44:39,239 --> 00:44:42,560
Speaker 5: is interesting as an artist when you want to flow

698
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:47,759
Speaker 5: and you want to honor your process. However that unfolds.

699
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,680
Speaker 5: But when you're also trying to make something on a

700
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:55,360
Speaker 5: commercial scale or turn your art into a lucrative business,

701
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:59,000
Speaker 5: It's like this weird balance of all right, I have

702
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 5: fifty thousand email and deadlines and I got to write.

703
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 5: All I want to do is laym my couch, which

704
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:11,040
Speaker 5: is also productive sometimes, so I'm trying to figure out

705
00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:15,360
Speaker 5: that balance. But I also do find reward and pushing through,

706
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 5: and I find reward and compartmentalization, which isn't always healthy,

707
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,200
Speaker 5: but in some ways and in certain instances it is

708
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:29,879
Speaker 5: because I also I feel everything. I feel everything intensely,

709
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,319
Speaker 5: every kind of emotion, but anyone experiences I feel, it's

710
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:38,319
Speaker 5: like the one hundredth degree. So that can also be

711
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 5: a little and can make like a really rocky foundation

712
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:45,560
Speaker 5: in creating. But my process is really simple. I walk

713
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:49,239
Speaker 5: around my house. I have music playing a lot of

714
00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:56,640
Speaker 5: Cleo soul and beautiful chorus affirmation really okay, because we

715
00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 5: might be you get it, you get it.

716
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 1: Crea che I will walk around my house and that's

717
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:02,319
Speaker 1: what I listen to.

718
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, really I understand. Yeah, it's very helpful. It helps

719
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:11,400
Speaker 5: me think. Because there's not too many complex lyrics or

720
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 5: drums or anything, I can really get inspired. And I

721
00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:19,480
Speaker 5: write everything on my notes app on my computer or

722
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 5: my phone. If something appears throughout the day, I'll make

723
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,640
Speaker 5: sure to like write it down and refer to it later.

724
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 5: And sometimes I'm not gonna lie. I have a little

725
00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:35,320
Speaker 5: herbal refreshments or a gummy or something, yes, and I

726
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:42,640
Speaker 5: just write exactly. And there's also this thing about being

727
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,920
Speaker 5: in tune, like trying to be in tune with what

728
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:50,359
Speaker 5: people like, what masses of people might be feeling. So

729
00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 5: I'm looking at holidays, I'm looking at weather, I'm looking

730
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:59,400
Speaker 5: at just political climate, socio political climate, things that are

731
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,759
Speaker 5: happening in the world. And so you know, around this

732
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 5: time a lot of people experience seasonal depression and I've

733
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:10,440
Speaker 5: swinged all the way down. So having that in mind,

734
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 5: I'm like, all right, I should talk about this thing

735
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:15,360
Speaker 5: and I should uplift them in this way. Or you know,

736
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:17,399
Speaker 5: a lot of people start thinking about their loved ones

737
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:21,279
Speaker 5: that aren't here anymore during the holiday season. So that's

738
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:24,600
Speaker 5: something else I know to lean into. And then there's

739
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,320
Speaker 5: sometimes where I just don't have it, where I don't

740
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:29,960
Speaker 5: have it, and I think it's a great reminder to

741
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,680
Speaker 5: every artist who posts their stuff on the Internet that

742
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:36,319
Speaker 5: it is okay to repost your work. We scroll by

743
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 5: so many things. Yes, we want to see it again,

744
00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:42,799
Speaker 5: and the way algorithms and everything work, most people that

745
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:45,799
Speaker 5: follow you don't see it the first time anyway. So

746
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 5: that's helped me in my process as well of being like,

747
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:51,919
Speaker 5: you know what, I'm going to run this neck from

748
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:52,799
Speaker 5: a few years ago.

749
00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:56,120
Speaker 2: Well, and quotes mean different things so us at different

750
00:47:56,120 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 2: points in our lives.

751
00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:57,640
Speaker 5: You know.

752
00:47:57,760 --> 00:47:59,960
Speaker 2: It's like, I think some of the quotes or something

753
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 2: that I've read that have meant something to me when

754
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 2: I see it again with new experiences that have happened,

755
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:09,880
Speaker 2: or maybe different kind of deeper healing that has taken

756
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,760
Speaker 2: place within me. I take it to mean something entirely

757
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:14,640
Speaker 2: different when I set eyes on it again.

758
00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:16,600
Speaker 1: So it's it's like, yeah, those.

759
00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:20,040
Speaker 2: Those kind of universal truths, they can evolve with your

760
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:22,080
Speaker 2: life in so many different seasons.

761
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:26,960
Speaker 5: Exactly. Yeah, it's and it's something I do as well,

762
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:31,400
Speaker 5: like the fresh eyes is because when I do repost

763
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:35,560
Speaker 5: old clothes, I'm usually jigging them up and adding some

764
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:38,880
Speaker 5: sauce and the new insight and the more mature aspect,

765
00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:41,560
Speaker 5: and some of those things are the ones that people

766
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:44,640
Speaker 5: share the most. So I think the Internet has this

767
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:47,800
Speaker 5: confuse that we just have to produce, produce, produce, produce,

768
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,719
Speaker 5: and that's something we created. Is just it loses its

769
00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:56,200
Speaker 5: value once people aren't engaging with it on the Internet. Yeah,

770
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:56,800
Speaker 5: it's really.

771
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:59,080
Speaker 2: Important to be saying this out loud. I think it's

772
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,400
Speaker 2: really really important to be saying this out loud because

773
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:05,160
Speaker 2: people have also anyone listening. Can I just say directly

774
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:07,959
Speaker 2: to you, you have a right to prioritize your real

775
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:11,680
Speaker 2: human life like you have a right and honestly a

776
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:16,719
Speaker 2: duty to actually prioritize your human experience above your digital experience.

777
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:20,520
Speaker 2: It's why we're here and I think so many of

778
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:25,640
Speaker 2: us are disregarding our humanity for these kind of sim

779
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 2: realities of who we think we are in a post

780
00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:33,160
Speaker 2: or based on the perception of another person. And it's

781
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 2: just so important to keep both feet in your real

782
00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 2: life and world is so important.

783
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:43,960
Speaker 5: Thank you for that word.

784
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:48,760
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm curious, Willie.

785
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,319
Speaker 2: And then I actually have some homework that I would

786
00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 2: like for you to give the audience.

787
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:56,400
Speaker 1: At this point in your life, in this moment.

788
00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:59,800
Speaker 2: Where the level of integration that you're at where you've arrived,

789
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:03,320
Speaker 2: especially in the kind of harmony and balance you've found

790
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:08,799
Speaker 2: for your unique path, body, mind's heart. What kind of

791
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:12,440
Speaker 2: space does faith and creativity take up in your life?

792
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:14,040
Speaker 1: How do those two.

793
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:20,840
Speaker 2: Essences of existence kind of show themselves in your world?

794
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 5: Wow, I've never been asked this. I don't think I've

795
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:32,120
Speaker 5: considered it, but thinking about it, I think, well, number one,

796
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 5: blind faith is what got me here. And like I

797
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:41,479
Speaker 5: said earlier, sometimes there have been seasons in my life

798
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:44,320
Speaker 5: where no one's believed in my vision, where I hardly

799
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:47,120
Speaker 5: believed in my vision, but there is a piece of

800
00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:50,040
Speaker 5: me that was just like just hold on, like you

801
00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:53,040
Speaker 5: might be. It might be around the corner. You might

802
00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:56,600
Speaker 5: almost be there and not even know it. So hold

803
00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:00,560
Speaker 5: on to that faith. And faith is not it's not

804
00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:08,200
Speaker 5: always some pretty glossy divine experience. Sometimes it is really

805
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:12,960
Speaker 5: messy and really scary, but always worth it. So having

806
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:17,280
Speaker 5: the ability to keep that faith, and also my evolving

807
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:22,200
Speaker 5: journey with religion and God and what I see as

808
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:27,120
Speaker 5: source and sort of removing religion out of the equation

809
00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:32,040
Speaker 5: and seeing the world and my purpose why I'm here differently,

810
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:37,200
Speaker 5: it's definitely helped me be more open and more creative

811
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:41,279
Speaker 5: and access new parts of my brain that may have

812
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 5: been blocked before due to indoctrinated beliefs that weren't mine.

813
00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:50,359
Speaker 5: So I have faith. I have faith in myself. I

814
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:54,480
Speaker 5: have faith in the future. I have faith and progress.

815
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 5: And I also have built faith in my confidence. And

816
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:05,759
Speaker 5: to achieve greatness and bring a vision to greatness, you

817
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:06,800
Speaker 5: have to have faith.

818
00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:09,080
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm, mm hmmm.

819
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:14,120
Speaker 2: I feel like in my life, I always say for myself,

820
00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 2: I got to keep like a little oven inside burning

821
00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:17,760
Speaker 2: for myself.

822
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:21,200
Speaker 1: I love that, you know, That's how it feels in

823
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 1: my body.

824
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:25,560
Speaker 2: It's like that little oven, And sometimes the kindling comes

825
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:28,239
Speaker 2: down a little low, and then sometimes it is like

826
00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:32,640
Speaker 2: this raging flame, but tending that fire, feeding that flame.

827
00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:36,000
Speaker 5: Yes, I feel that I'm gonna start thinking of it

828
00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:38,640
Speaker 5: as that too. It's a beautiful imagery.

829
00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:39,839
Speaker 1: Thank you.

830
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:42,360
Speaker 2: I would love to ask now, at the end of

831
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:48,719
Speaker 2: every episode, I give our honored guests this ask of

832
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 2: providing homework for the listening audience, something to help integrate

833
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:55,920
Speaker 2: everything that was heard and felt from this conversation.

834
00:52:56,280 --> 00:52:59,759
Speaker 1: And sometimes that looks like a.

835
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:03,200
Speaker 2: Maybe an query or a journalinge prompt or a breath

836
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:07,279
Speaker 2: or a quote, a thought starter, a practice.

837
00:53:06,719 --> 00:53:07,560
Speaker 1: Of some sort.

838
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:10,879
Speaker 2: But what can you share with our audience that they

839
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:13,640
Speaker 2: can use to spend time with after they hear this?

840
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:19,480
Speaker 5: Wow? Okay, Well, I want everyone to pull out their

841
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 5: journal or their notes, app or however they get their

842
00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:30,879
Speaker 5: writing out, and I want them to start with, in

843
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:36,239
Speaker 5: this next season of my life, I'm going to improve.

844
00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:39,600
Speaker 5: And then I want you to write ten different things.

845
00:53:39,600 --> 00:53:43,320
Speaker 5: They can be affirmations, they could be things about your relationships,

846
00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:46,680
Speaker 5: your habits. Write out ten things that you need to

847
00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 5: improve on and stick it on your fridge or make

848
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:53,480
Speaker 5: it your wallpaper on your phone. Figure out a way

849
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:55,759
Speaker 5: for it to be in your subconscious even if you're

850
00:53:55,760 --> 00:54:00,799
Speaker 5: not looking at it directly and see what happens, see

851
00:54:00,840 --> 00:54:01,720
Speaker 5: what happens after.

852
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:08,319
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that that's where your work is.

853
00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:10,399
Speaker 5: Yes, get out of that pen.

854
00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:15,719
Speaker 2: Willie Green, thank you so much for joining us on

855
00:54:15,800 --> 00:54:19,840
Speaker 2: this episode. Your book is in stores now. I know

856
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:22,600
Speaker 2: everyone can see it right behind him. I'm not sure

857
00:54:22,640 --> 00:54:26,080
Speaker 2: who needs to hear this, but thank you for all

858
00:54:26,120 --> 00:54:27,799
Speaker 2: the work you do in the world. Thank you for

859
00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:30,000
Speaker 2: me the Urban, thank you for this book, and just

860
00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 2: thank you for your existence.

861
00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:35,400
Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you so much for sharing your platform.

862
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:38,880
Speaker 5: And this is my favorite interview I've ever done period.

863
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:43,160
Speaker 5: I love that we talked about real things. So I

864
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:45,080
Speaker 5: appreciate you so.

865
00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:50,399
Speaker 1: Greatful, my friend. We will be back next week, no mistayay.

866
00:54:56,840 --> 00:55:00,640
Speaker 2: The content presented on Deeply Well serves solely f educational

867
00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:04,440
Speaker 2: and informational purposes. It should not be considered a replacement

868
00:55:04,560 --> 00:55:08,520
Speaker 2: for personalized medical or mental health guidance and does not

869
00:55:08,719 --> 00:55:11,760
Speaker 2: constitute a provider patient relationship.

870
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:12,879
Speaker 1: As always, it.

871
00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:16,320
Speaker 2: Is advisable to consult with your healthcare provider or health

872
00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:20,759
Speaker 2: team for any specific concerns or questions that you may have.

873
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:25,320
Speaker 2: Connect with me on social at Debbie Brown that's Twitter

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00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:28,240
Speaker 2: and Instagram, or you can go to my website Debbie

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Speaker 2: Brown dot com and if you're listening to the show

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Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts, don't forget, Please rate, review, and subscribe

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Speaker 2: and send this episode to a friend. Deeply Well is

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Speaker 2: a production of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect Network.

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Speaker 1: It's produced by Jacqueesse.

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Speaker 2: Thomas, Samantha Timmins, and me Debbie Brown. The Beautiful Soundbath

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Speaker 2: You heard That's by Jarrelen Glass from Crystal Cadence. For

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Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever

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Speaker 2: you listen to your favorite shows.