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Speaker 1: What Up. It's dramas and this is the Street Stoic Podcast,

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Speaker 1: bringing you your daily dose of time the Stoic philosophy

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Speaker 1: remixed 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: So today we're gonna be focusing all around the Stoic

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Speaker 1: idea of you know, focusing on on what you can control,

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Speaker 1: but more specifically, not allowing your peace of mind to

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Speaker 1: be jeopardized by anyone or anything. And uh for for

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Speaker 1: this one in particularly, I want to start with a

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Speaker 1: stoic quote and it comes to us from from Seneca,

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Speaker 1: and he says, quote, take some of your own time

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Speaker 1: for yourself too. And this is one of those ones

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Speaker 1: that just sounds very obvious. It's not written poetically, but

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Speaker 1: but I think you know, those those tend to be

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Speaker 1: the ones that hit the hardest, right, And it's the

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Speaker 1: obvious advice that we oftentimes find it the hardest to

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Speaker 1: take or to or to realize. Right, Like, I think

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Speaker 1: that it's important to to go into hiding a bit

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Speaker 1: at times, right, like going into your own little cave

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Speaker 1: and and being with yourself for for a little bit,

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Speaker 1: Right like to make time for yourself as a means

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Speaker 1: to get clear on what's important you know and and

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Speaker 1: what people or or what things that that you need

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Speaker 1: to distance yourself from for your own benefit. Right. And

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Speaker 1: I think in the craziness of life and and man,

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Speaker 1: the hyper connectivity that we have with social media and

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Speaker 1: we know what every single person we've ever met is

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Speaker 1: is up to, you know, via their Instagram, I think

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Speaker 1: it's it's important to to kind of sometimes block out

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Speaker 1: that noise and to kind of figure out what exactly

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Speaker 1: is going on with you and what exactly it is

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Speaker 1: that that you need. Right. And I love this concept

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Speaker 1: because it's something that has has been a really profound

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Speaker 1: thing for me that I've been instilling over the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years. And we'll get into that, but I've

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Speaker 1: had a really really dope song from from Kendrick Lamar

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Speaker 1: that thought correlated this so perfectly and ironically. Song is

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Speaker 1: called cut You Off Right, And I'm gonna pull a

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Speaker 1: few different bars from from this song because he was

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Speaker 1: just hitting on so many different things that I think

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Speaker 1: fit into this idea of making time for yourself, prioritizing

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Speaker 1: yourself and and not only your your time, but also

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Speaker 1: your own needs, right, So the first first part that

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Speaker 1: we're gonna pull from this song is Kendrick says, I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to learn something new. I'm trying to find myself.

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Speaker 1: I'm searching deep for Kendrick Lamar. I read about Napoleon

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Speaker 1: Hill and try to know God. They say he the

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Speaker 1: key to my blessed things. And if I speak good

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Speaker 1: into existence that instant, my dreams will unlock. Money flow

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Speaker 1: like water. I'll just wait at the dock. Right. And

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Speaker 1: what Kendrick is is talking about here first and foremost,

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Speaker 1: he starts it by by talking about taking the time

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Speaker 1: to to teach himself something new. Right. He's referencing the

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Speaker 1: author Napoleon Hill, who wrote a really incredible book that's

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Speaker 1: super famous and and you know, widely recommended by by

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Speaker 1: so many thought leaders. The book is called Think and

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Speaker 1: Grow Rich, Right, And and he's talking about taking that

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Speaker 1: time alone, right, and spending time with that book dissecting

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Speaker 1: the ideas and how he can personally apply it to

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Speaker 1: his own life. Right. Again, he's taking time for himself

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Speaker 1: and his own growth. Now, I want to dive a

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Speaker 1: bit more into the song. And Kendrick goes on to say,

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Speaker 1: I'm back chilling with a friend of mine. She might

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Speaker 1: be fine, but I noticed that her heart resides next

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Speaker 1: to bitterness. Olwis holler? And who she don't like? And

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Speaker 1: who she kicked it with? Who she want to fight?

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Speaker 1: Who wearing a weave? Who DOINGI in burke bag is fake?

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Speaker 1: Who holding the keys to the car she drove last year?

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Speaker 1: Or who sucking on? Who? And who need a pap

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Speaker 1: smere getting on my nerves before your negative energy curve, bitch,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut you off. And he's he's recognizing here

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Speaker 1: in this moment that someone else's negativity is actually affecting

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Speaker 1: him and and and actually bringing that heavy energy into

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Speaker 1: his life. And and he's he's recognizing the profound effect

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Speaker 1: that that can have on his happiness if he doesn't

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Speaker 1: put an end to it. Right like that that someone

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Speaker 1: who only sees the bad in life, you know, or

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Speaker 1: or people who only want to complain about everything, or

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Speaker 1: only want to talk behind others backs and tear other

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Speaker 1: people down, right, they are not people that you should

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Speaker 1: have in your life, right And they're actually somebody that

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Speaker 1: you need to put a distance between before it's too late,

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Speaker 1: before they suck you down into that negativity hole. That

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Speaker 1: that they're living in. Right, and the last bar I

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Speaker 1: want to want to pull from Kendrick as it pertains

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Speaker 1: to this topic. He says, I functioned with you, and

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Speaker 1: you flaunt your pistol every second. Tell me how you

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Speaker 1: pressed them at the Monte Cristo. We're so and so from,

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Speaker 1: And what neighborhood's beefing? Whose baby mama is a rat?

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Speaker 1: And who got killed last weekend? That ship is mad depressing,

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Speaker 1: bringing me down. Speak on something with some substance that

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Speaker 1: can get us both paid, rather than telling me how

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Speaker 1: these dudes jock in your style or his rooms ain't bigger,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut you off. And in this instance, he's

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Speaker 1: talking about a friend, right, and a friend that doesn't

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Speaker 1: have the same commitment as him to growth. And I'm

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Speaker 1: sure we all have people like that in our lives,

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Speaker 1: especially if you're still friends with many of the people

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Speaker 1: that you grew up with, you know, from from elementary

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Speaker 1: school or even high school. Right, And he's talking about

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Speaker 1: this friend who is sort of stuck in that small

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Speaker 1: mindset of the local neighborhood that they grew up in, right,

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Speaker 1: And Kendrick is expressing how he's tired of the small

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Speaker 1: minded local neighborhood drama that his friend is sort of

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Speaker 1: at the center of. And he's yearning for a life

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Speaker 1: that is filled with with more substance and one that

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Speaker 1: that has him having conversations about the bigger picture. Right

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Speaker 1: and and he's talking about how this person, even as

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Speaker 1: they might not be bringing direct harm to him, the

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Speaker 1: idea that they are operating on a lower frequency than him,

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Speaker 1: that they can't see the world beyond their local neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: He's recognizing that this is a hindrance to his own

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Speaker 1: personal growth and he needs to cut this person out

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Speaker 1: of his life. Now, we've we've talked about you know,

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Speaker 1: the words of of Seneca here, right and and I've

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Speaker 1: given you man a bunch of lyrics from from Kendrick Lamar.

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Speaker 1: Now I want to talk about how I relate to

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Speaker 1: this concept, because, to be quite honest, I think it's

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Speaker 1: no secret why I've seen some of the largest steps

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Speaker 1: in my personal life and in my career happened over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years. The pandemic was sort of

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Speaker 1: a cheat code for me to put some distance between

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Speaker 1: myself and people that I had in my life who

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Speaker 1: maybe didn't have the same vision for life that I

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Speaker 1: did right. They didn't thirst for the same level of

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Speaker 1: substance that I did. Right. And not to say that

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Speaker 1: all of them were bad people or you know, are

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Speaker 1: people that I looked down upon, but we're just on

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Speaker 1: different paths in life, right. I had so many friends

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Speaker 1: during that time who we're friends out of convenience because

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Speaker 1: we worked in the entertainment industry, in the music industry,

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Speaker 1: you know, we had the same type of crazy hours

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Speaker 1: and we knew similar people, and our friendship was based

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Speaker 1: upon you know, going out to the clubs and and

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Speaker 1: getting funked up and going you know, to Vegas or

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Speaker 1: wherever it was and doing the same thing right. And

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Speaker 1: that was just the cycle of of what we spent

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Speaker 1: our time doing. Our free time was spent doing that

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Speaker 1: same thing over and over again, right. And for them,

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Speaker 1: they saw nothing wrong with that lifestyle, right. They had

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Speaker 1: no desire to change or to grow up, or to

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Speaker 1: demand more of themselves. They were perfectly okay with reliving

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Speaker 1: the same cycle that they had since they were in

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Speaker 1: their early twenties. And nobody's pushing each other for for

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Speaker 1: growth or for a life of substance. And I recognized

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Speaker 1: that if I wanted to truly accomplish more with my life.

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Speaker 1: I had to be really careful about how I spent

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Speaker 1: my time, and the pandemic was a blessing in disguise

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Speaker 1: because I was alone with my thoughts, with myself, and

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Speaker 1: I took that time to really reflect on what I

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Speaker 1: was feeling and where I was lacking and what I

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Speaker 1: needed and as a result, what I needed to cut

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Speaker 1: out of my life and who I needed to cut

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Speaker 1: out of my life. Right And that, I think is

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Speaker 1: the the idea of what we're talking about, being able

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Speaker 1: to make some time for yourself to get that clarity.

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Speaker 1: Right now, you've heard the words of Seneca. We've heard

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Speaker 1: from man one of the great Skendrick Lamar. I've given

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Speaker 1: you how this principle and this idea has touched my

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Speaker 1: life specifically. Now let's talk about how you can make

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Speaker 1: it your mantra for today. But first to take a

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

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Speaker 1: So you have heard the words of one of the

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Speaker 1: stoic Seneca. We have heard the words from one of

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Speaker 1: the great man Kendrick Lamar. I've talked a bit about

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Speaker 1: how this principle has had such a huge impact in

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Speaker 1: my life you know the idea of making time for

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Speaker 1: oneself and not letting yourself be taken over by the

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Speaker 1: outside world, but prioritizing that time alone to get clarity,

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Speaker 1: you know, that time to be selfish. So now let's

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Speaker 1: specifically talk about how you can make it your mantra

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Speaker 1: for today. Now, we're all in in different points in

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Speaker 1: our lives, right, So don't feel guilty if you're not

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Speaker 1: at a point where you feel like you need to

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Speaker 1: make a drastic change. If you are still in a

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Speaker 1: certain phase where you know you are prioritizing and maybe

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Speaker 1: going out or doing quote unquote young person things, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's okay. But for those of us who are wanting

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Speaker 1: more out of life, I think it's really important to

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Speaker 1: find clarity on what exactly that looks like for you

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Speaker 1: and what exactly is missing from your current situation. Right.

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Speaker 1: We exist in a society that is pushing this idea

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Speaker 1: of like hyper productivity, right, and it doesn't leave us

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Speaker 1: much time to ourselves or our thoughts, right, So it

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Speaker 1: makes it really hard at times for us to kind

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Speaker 1: of climb out of some of these ruts or or

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Speaker 1: even truly just get in touch with what we're actually

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Speaker 1: feeling right and whether it's like the fear of missing

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Speaker 1: out or burnout from overworking. We aren't doing ourselves any

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Speaker 1: favors when it comes to getting to the bottom of

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Speaker 1: our own happiness right now. The writer Joseph Campbell talks

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Speaker 1: about how he spent like five years in the woods

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Speaker 1: just reading and like developing his philosophy on life. Right,

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Speaker 1: five years alone in the woods. Obviously, that's impractical for

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Speaker 1: the majority of all of us, you know, if not

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Speaker 1: impossible for the man current world that that exists out there.

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Speaker 1: But I think it is is important to carve out

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Speaker 1: some time alone for ourselves and really just tap into

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Speaker 1: our minds. Right. Doesn't have to be five years, but

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Speaker 1: that whole notion of being really focused, of spending that

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Speaker 1: time alone just for the idea of growth is kind

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Speaker 1: of the sentiment behind it. Be it a a weekend

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Speaker 1: alone or or even just you know, one night spent alone,

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Speaker 1: you know, find time to regularly be still with yourself,

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Speaker 1: you know, journal, read a thought provoking book and get

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Speaker 1: clear on what is actually important to you right, what

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Speaker 1: or who in your life is is simply just taking

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Speaker 1: up space, you know, or maybe even you've just you know,

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Speaker 1: outgrown certain people. That's okay, Like, not all friends are

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Speaker 1: are meant to be lifelong friends, right. You can't be

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Speaker 1: married to this idea that just because you've known this

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Speaker 1: person for X amount of time since grade school or

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Speaker 1: whatever it is, that now you can't separate yourself from

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Speaker 1: them even though you know they are a toxic part

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Speaker 1: of your life. Again, you just have to get clear

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Speaker 1: on what is best for you and be unafraid to

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Speaker 1: be selfish about it. Sometimes, you know saying no is

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Speaker 1: the greatest gift that you can give to yourself. Now,

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

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Speaker 1: the Streets Stoic podcast. Do your best to apply these

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

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Speaker 1: catch y'all next time. The Street Stoke podcast is a

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Speaker 1: production of I Hearts Michael Doura Podcast Networks