Nas & Epictetus | In Charge of My Future

Published Jan 1, 2024, 8:00 AM

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.

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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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? 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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 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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