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January 1, 2024 9 mins

We start the new year with an episode all about focusing on what you can control. Dramos uses lyrics from Nas and a quote from Epictetus to remind us that our circumstances don't have to determine our future.

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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas and this is the Street
Stoke Podcast, bringing your daily dose of timeless stoic philosophy
remix for the hip hop generation. We are combining ancient
stoic philosophy with lyrics and quotes from some of the
greatest who ever grace a microphone. Now, with that in mind,
let's get things started with your daily shot of inspiration

(00:43):
and today, Man, New Year's Day, a brand new year.
I absolutely love this time of year because it just
gives you like a fresh star. It feels like a
fresh star at least, right, and there's no better way
to kind of start things off than talking about all
that you are in control of and allowing that to
be your focus. Right, So today talking all about the

(01:05):
stoic idea of focusing on what you can control. And
particularly Man, this is a one of my favorite artists,
Nas but just such an inspirational record in the song
I Can and I'll pulled a quote that I think
is just an amazing way for us to start our
new year, to maybe change our mindset a bit so

(01:26):
that we can begin getting all that we're hoping for
in the upcoming year in our life as a whole. Right,
so in the record I can. He says, if the
truth is told, the youth can grow, then learn to
survive until they gain control. Nobody says you have to
be Gangsta's hose. Read more, learn more, change the globe. Obviously,

(01:46):
he's talking about the youth, right the kids in this
world today. Those may be born into circumstances that are
not ideal. But I love the overall general message that
nas is speaking about in this song, right this line,
right here, these bars that I just read to you.
He's talking about the idea that your current circumstance doesn't

(02:06):
have to determine your future. And I think that is
so incredibly powerful to just have a reminder of that,
right especially he's talking about the beginning. If the truth
is told, the youth can grow. If they're given the
right information, they can grow. They can read more or
learn more, and then change the globe. All of those
things are within your control. The change that you seek

(02:30):
as a result of putting forth that effort is within
your control. And this leads to a perfect quote from
one of the Stokes Epictetus, where he says circumstances don't
make the man, they only reveal him to himself, And
the reality is, you can't control the family that you
were born into. None of us can. We can't control
the city that we were grown up in, the certain

(02:51):
physical elements we may have been born with, right, all
those things that are just sort of handed down to
us when we're into this world are beyond our control.
But what we can control are the effects that we
allow them to have on our life. Do we allow
them to be the thing that determines whether or not

(03:14):
we are successful in this world? Do we allow them
to be the things that determine whether or not we're
happy in this life? Those are all choices that we
can make. And honestly, I'm not going to sit here
and pretend like I grew up in the toughest of environments.
Wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I have
trauma just like anybody else. But I also had a

(03:35):
certain level of privilege, right, I had a roof over
my head, I had families you know who, for the
most part, had stable jobs and income. So there's a
privilege within that. But I relate to this whole idea
on such a deep level because I'm not supposed to
be here talking to you right now. Whoever would be
sort of seeing the kid version of me, seeing my

(03:56):
family background, the way that their minds worked, would have
never ever been able to predict that I would have
a career a doing something that I love, but B
being my own boss, doing something creative, using my voice,
working in media in such a large scale way. Nobody
could have ever written that for me. Right. My parents
are not people who worked in a creative field. They

(04:19):
were not incredibly supportive of me going into this field,
going down this path of trying to make my dreams
come true. Right. They had their doubts. They didn't think
it was possible. They had never seen it done before.
I had nobody in my immediate circle to lend me
guidance or mentorship. I had no connections to anyone in
media whatsoever. Everybody that I met in in media that

(04:43):
helped the lending hand that has helped me get to
where I am today. That relationship came as a result
of me just continuously throwing myself into the fire, essentially right.
But again, my circumstances would have said, this is not
a logical career path for you. But I refused to
allow my circumstances to dictate whether or not I got

(05:05):
to live out my dreams. I got to break generational
curses because I focused on what I was in control
of and refused to allow the mistakes of previous generations
to dictate how my life was going to go. Now,
with that said, we're talking all about the idea of
focusing on what you can control, and man a fitting
time to do so here in the new year, with

(05:27):
this fresh start. We've heard from the great Nas, we
have heard from one of the stoics, Epictetis. I've given
you a whole speech about where I come from. Now
let's talk about how you can make it your mantra
for today. But first's take a quick break and then
we'll be right back. Now today, as we usher in

(05:53):
a brand new year, kicking off twenty twenty four, a
fresh start for so many of us, we are talking
about the Stoic idea of focusing on what you can control.
And we have heard from Nas in just an incredibly
inspirational song. In general, I can We've heard from one
of the stokes Atpatitis. I've given you some insight into
my own journey. Now let's talk about how you can
make it your mantra for today, And I think it's

(06:16):
just about refusing to allow your story to be written
by someone or something other than yourself. I think it's
really that simple, because when you begin to make excuses
as to why you're not where you want to be,
you know, nobody wants to help me out. Nobody you
know likes real talent these days, right, nobody who does this?

(06:39):
Or I can't seem to do that, or every time
I try this happens. All of those excuses. Are you
relinquishing your power to something external. And I'm not saying
that it's easy, and I'm not saying that you're not
valid in some of your frustration, in some of your
anger towards the hand that life has dealt you. But
that doesn't change the fact that you and you alone

(07:01):
are the one who is in control of whether or
not these things determine the course of your life, and
you have to take accountability for that. You have to
take responsibility for that. Right, this is a fresh start
as we talk about the new year, this could be
your fresh start to say, no more excuses, no more
me relinquishing my power to someone else. I'm going to
be the only one and only thing that writes my

(07:23):
story from here on out. And to recap all we've
been talking about today, nas speaking to the kids, but
really just a universal message, talking about the idea of
things like learning more, reading more give you the opportunity
to change the globe. Right again, that's an action you
can take regardless of your circumstance, regardless of where you're born.
You can challenge yourself to learn more, to read more,

(07:44):
to be better and give yourself an opportunity to create
the change that you're looking for. Right. Epictetis talking about
the idea that circumstances do not make the man, They
only reveal him to himself. Your circumstances, as difficult as
they might be, don't actually the life that you're going
to be living. All they do is reveal the type
of person that you are. Are you somebody who just

(08:06):
throws their hands up and says, whatever, I'm not gonna
try anymore, because that's what a negative circumstance will reveal.
If you're that type of person, yeah, you're just gonna
keep living in a life of squander and not being
able to actually live out your dreams. But if instead
you become the type of person who when faced with
those challenges, when when living in those circumstances that aren't ideal,

(08:27):
instead of complaining about them, instead of making excuses for
why you're not where you want to be, you just
use them as fuel to get yourself to where you
want to go. And even for me, I watched as
my father worked a job that he absolutely hated and
it made him miserable half the time, right, And I
told myself, I will never end up living that type

(08:47):
of life, regardless of the fact that my parents don't
have money like that to give me this Christianity life
that I can just sort of fly by the seat
of my pants and be the struggling artist, regardless of
the fact that I didn't have any connections, I didn't
know how anything worked in the entertainment business, in media
as a whole. Regardless of all of that, I refused

(09:08):
to live a life that gave me anything less than
what I wanted and what I desired. And it hasn't
always been easy, it hasn't always worked out perfectly, but
I can tell you I am a hell of a
lot happier and beyond words, far more fulfilled than I
would have ever been if I would have just taken

(09:28):
the hand that life dealt me. And with that said,
thank you so much for checking out the Street Stoke Podcast.
Do your best to apply these concepts that we discussed
into your everyday life, and I'll catch you next time.
The Street Stoke Podcast is a production of Iheart's Michael
Dura Podcast Network
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