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

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Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, your daily dose of Time, the Stoic philosophy

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

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

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Speaker 1: Now today we're gonna be focusing our our discussion around

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Speaker 1: the stoic idea or concept of me mental moor right.

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Speaker 1: And that is the reminder of the inevitability of death right.

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Speaker 1: And this isn't to make anybody bummed out or depressed.

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Speaker 1: It is just a real man thing that we have

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Speaker 1: to be aware of and we have to live as

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Speaker 1: if our time is limited year on this earth. And

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Speaker 1: I really wanted to dive into this this conversation because

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Speaker 1: I was reading one of Epictetus's books, one of his writings,

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Speaker 1: and this quote just really stuck out to me and

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Speaker 1: and it was something that I really related to, and

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Speaker 1: he put it into words in a way that I've

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Speaker 1: I've never been able to. And we're gonna start with

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Speaker 1: with the quote from Epictetis today one of the stokes,

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Speaker 1: and he says, quote, life is short, but art is long.

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Speaker 1: That's a really really short phrase, right, a really tiny

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Speaker 1: sort of simplified passage, but it to me, it was

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Speaker 1: incredibly impactful, right, because it speaks to the idea that

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Speaker 1: you know, of course, our our time on this planet

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Speaker 1: is limited. It's it's moving so fast, and it's always fleeting.

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Speaker 1: But the things that we create, the impacts that we make,

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Speaker 1: have the potential to to hopefully live on long after

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Speaker 1: we're gone. Right. And this spoke to a quote from

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Speaker 1: from Tupac that I found, right, and he says, quote,

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Speaker 1: the only thing that can kill me is death. That's

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Speaker 1: the only thing that can ever stop me is death.

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Speaker 1: And even then my music will live forever. And you

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Speaker 1: think about this idea, right, It's it's interesting to me

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Speaker 1: because some of the people that have influenced me the

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Speaker 1: most in my life are no longer here, right The

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Speaker 1: Joseph Campbell, a writer who died before I was even born,

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Speaker 1: The late great Nipsey Hustle. These are people that I

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Speaker 1: I go back to, whose writings and and whose words

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Speaker 1: and quotes I go back to to help me on

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Speaker 1: my own journey right now in this world. And I

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Speaker 1: think there's something so beautiful and profound about the idea

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Speaker 1: of a legacy, right And and that's what these people

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Speaker 1: have done in their own ways, through their own art

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Speaker 1: and their their work. You know, they essentially have found

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Speaker 1: a way to live on forever through their work and

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Speaker 1: their purpose that they chose to tackle while they were

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Speaker 1: here on this earth. And I think that for many

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Speaker 1: of us, when we think about life and this sort

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Speaker 1: of lack of fulfillment that that comes over us from

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Speaker 1: time to time, I think it often stems from a

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Speaker 1: lack of purpose. And I mean a purpose beyond just

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Speaker 1: what's in front of you right a purpose beyond having

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Speaker 1: to go to work in the morning, to provide for

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Speaker 1: your your family, and provide for yourself. Of course, all

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Speaker 1: of that is is commendable, but I think we we

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Speaker 1: all are searching for something just beyond that, beyond the

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Speaker 1: normal monotonous life. We're searching for for the ability to

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Speaker 1: be a part of something bigger than ourselves. And I

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Speaker 1: relate to this concept in such a deep way. I

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Speaker 1: mean that that's why I pulled up that quote when

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Speaker 1: I when I read it when I opened the page

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Speaker 1: of this book. Lose like one of the first paragraphs

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Speaker 1: in the first chapter that just stuck out to me

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Speaker 1: and was something that I've been kind of stewing on

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Speaker 1: ever since. And I think for me, I've related to

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Speaker 1: this in a way because I look at the trajectory

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Speaker 1: of my career and my life. You know, for me,

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Speaker 1: originally getting into the entertainment industry and radio in deejaying

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Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff, it was incredibly self serving, right.

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Speaker 1: It is the ability to travel around, to make a

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Speaker 1: lot of money, to perform for a lot of people,

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Speaker 1: to get the admiration of a lot of people, to

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Speaker 1: you know, party, and to have all the things that

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Speaker 1: come along with you know, being out there in front

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Speaker 1: of the camera, you know. But for me, I eventually

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Speaker 1: realized how unfulfilling that was, and no matter how much

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Speaker 1: I tried to top it with the next goal, I

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Speaker 1: was still always left with that unfulfillment. And it was

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Speaker 1: a recognition that I had no real purpose in my

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Speaker 1: life that was bigger than myself. And I wanted to

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Speaker 1: live a life that was far more purpose driven and

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Speaker 1: have the ability to leave something of substance behind and

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Speaker 1: my career, if you look at it, I've taken a

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Speaker 1: really hard left turn here and focus my energy completely

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Speaker 1: on content and conversations that that hopefully inspire people, right,

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Speaker 1: And I do it with a tenacity that will hopefully

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Speaker 1: give me the ability to have a lot of things

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Speaker 1: that I can potentially leave behind for others to gain

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Speaker 1: inspiration from and to gain knowledge from. Like to me,

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Speaker 1: that is is serving such a greater purpose, right, the

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Speaker 1: fact that as long as I make the most of

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Speaker 1: my time here on this earth, I could potentially have

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Speaker 1: an impact that goes far beyond my wildest dreams based

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Speaker 1: upon the lives that I may touch or inspire as

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Speaker 1: a result of my work. And to me, that's a

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Speaker 1: life worth living. Right. The idea that I can have

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Speaker 1: that sort of impact, you know, be it smaller or large.

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Speaker 1: You know, even if I'm just somebody who opens the

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Speaker 1: door for for you to maybe get into something like stoicism,

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Speaker 1: and then that goes and sets you off on the

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Speaker 1: journey to to finding something bigger and better, even if

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Speaker 1: I'm just that spark. The idea that I'm a part

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Speaker 1: of something bigger than myself, I think allows me to

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Speaker 1: get out of bed in the morning, right on those

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Speaker 1: days where I really don't want to write, to push

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Speaker 1: through the long nights, the times that I'm exhausted. Right,

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Speaker 1: the idea that what I'm doing on a consistent basis

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Speaker 1: is in some way, making this world a little bit

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Speaker 1: better is something that gives our life meaning Again, it's

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Speaker 1: that legacy. What am I going to leave behind when

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Speaker 1: it's all said and done, And I want to make

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Speaker 1: sure that it was something more than just giving myself

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Speaker 1: a paddle the back, something more than just stroking my ego.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be something that that impacts others for

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Speaker 1: for generations to come. Right now, with that said, we

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Speaker 1: have heard from Epictetus, We've heard from from Tupac, We've

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Speaker 1: heer from myself about this whole concept of really making

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Speaker 1: the most of your time and understanding what you leave

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Speaker 1: behind can potentially live on forever. Right, So let's talk

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

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Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break and then we'll

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Speaker 1: be right back. All right, So we've heard the words

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Speaker 1: of Epictetius, one of the stoics, we have heard from

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Speaker 1: from Tupac, You've heard from myself about this concept and

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Speaker 1: how I'm visualizing the way that I spend my life,

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Speaker 1: and I want to talk about how you can make

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Speaker 1: it your mantra for today. Right. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: sound repetitive here, but I really think that the important

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Speaker 1: key to happiness is doing something bigger than yourself. Right,

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Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be some grandiose thing. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to be writing a best selling book that

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Speaker 1: changes people's lives, or doing a podcast or whatever it is. Right.

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Speaker 1: I think we all have our avenue that lights that

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Speaker 1: spark for us, right that we can put our attention

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Speaker 1: towards and serve the greater good. Like it could be

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Speaker 1: setting your your family up for for the future, and

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Speaker 1: maybe making it a point to educate your your kids

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Speaker 1: and the youth in in your life you know about

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Speaker 1: financial literacy and being a good person right, and and

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Speaker 1: that you know creates this whole domino effect for for

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Speaker 1: the next generation and then the one to follow and

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Speaker 1: the one to follow, right. Or it could be something

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Speaker 1: like working for a cause that helps others who are

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Speaker 1: are less fortunate than yourself. It's no no secret why

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Speaker 1: many people, once they hit a certain level of success

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Speaker 1: that are of you know, great moral character, often look

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Speaker 1: to to give back, right, because I think that's the

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Speaker 1: greatest joy in this world. When you think about the

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Speaker 1: holiday and something like Christmas or whatever it is, and

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Speaker 1: for me, I've always recognized that when I get that

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Speaker 1: that gift or I give that gift, that should say

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Speaker 1: that puts a smile on somebody else's face, Like that

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Speaker 1: feels better than receiving something from someone else. Right. Like

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Speaker 1: the idea that I could have that impact that brings

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Speaker 1: joy to somebody else's life is profound, Right, Like what

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Speaker 1: do you want to be remembered for at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day. I think we're often just so caught

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Speaker 1: up in trying to man show off to people and

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Speaker 1: and trying to feel good about ourselves that like we

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Speaker 1: don't recognize that we're just, like I've said many times,

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Speaker 1: sort of feeding this hungry ghost, right, and it we're

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Speaker 1: never getting fulfilled from it, and we're not sure why.

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Speaker 1: And again, it's because we're doing nothing but serve ourselves.

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Speaker 1: And I think the second you begin to to give back,

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Speaker 1: and the second you begin to think of of life

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Speaker 1: as something that goes beyond your time here in the

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Speaker 1: physical sense, right, but the potential to create something that

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Speaker 1: impacts others for generations to come, I think it gives

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Speaker 1: your your life far more direction and far more meaning.

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Speaker 1: And I think that that is what what fights off

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Speaker 1: the feelings of complacency, right, that is what helps you know,

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Speaker 1: sort of fight off those feelings of depression sometimes and

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Speaker 1: and those existential questions that we oftentimes ask ourselves of

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Speaker 1: why am I here? Right? I think recognizing the potential

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Speaker 1: to to impact others again, far beyond your your days

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Speaker 1: here on this earth, I think we'll we'll lead you

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Speaker 1: to a far more satisfied life. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: kind of how we have to allow ourselves to start

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Speaker 1: viewing viewing this world right and and understanding that it

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Speaker 1: doesn't take grandiose gestures, It doesn't take being famous to

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Speaker 1: to make a change. Literally, the impact that you have

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Speaker 1: on one other person can lead down a crazy domino effect,

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Speaker 1: can be the spark that changes you know, something far

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Speaker 1: bigger than you could have ever imagined. And I just

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Speaker 1: want you to to recognize that in your everyday life

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Speaker 1: and challenge yourself to to think in those terms of

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Speaker 1: putting in the extra effort to create a better world

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Speaker 1: each and every day, no matter what way you choose

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Speaker 1: to do so. And with that said, and thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for checking out the Street Stoke podcast, do

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Speaker 1: your best to apply these concepts that we've discussed into

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Speaker 1: your everyday life. And I'll catch you all next time.

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Speaker 1: The Street Stoke Podcast is a production of I Hearts

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Speaker 1: Michael Tura Podcast Networks