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Speaker 1: Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.
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Speaker 2: Hey there, I know y'all haven't.
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Speaker 1: Heard from me personally solo.
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Speaker 2: Wized on a solo episode.
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Speaker 1: In a minute, but if you stay tuned, I'm going to tell you what I was doing. Okay, now, hello, good people, Welcome to another episode of Checking In. It's been an amazing couple of weeks.
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Speaker 2: Well how do I say amazing?
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Speaker 1: Well, two things can be true. You can still make amazing progress and have some wins while still looking at the world around you and how there's been so much chaos, unrest, war, just whatever we want to call it, you know, war, unrest, just whatever you.
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Speaker 2: Want to call it.
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Speaker 1: Heck, it could be war within yourself, war in your home, unresting your home, unresting yourself, unrest on your job, unrest in relationships. So I just want to acknowledge that you know, yes you can. You could have gotten a promotion, but still acknowledge what you saw on the news that has been scary and absolutely horrific and just like confusing and all the things.
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Speaker 2: That's why I like to check in.
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Speaker 1: So making sure that you check in with yourself you check in with others, and you check in with God that you're meditating, you're centering yourself, you're breathing, you're checking in with yourself, asking your wait a minute, how am I doing? How many of y'all have not asked that of yourself? How am I doing?
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Speaker 2: How am I really doing?
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Speaker 1: And taking the time to acknowledge how you're really doing and go beyond oh, I'm good, I'm cool. But then, well, if you say I'm good, what makes you good? And there's no wrong answer. Hey, I woke up this morning. That's enough for me.
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Speaker 2: I'm good.
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Speaker 1: I didn't go off on nobody. I used the tools my therapist gave me.
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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
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Speaker 1: You could have been on the subway and you had your eye on a certain seat or wherever you wanted to stand, and somebody just got in your way, or they cut you off in traffic, and you're like, no, what, I didn't stick up my middle finger at them.
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Speaker 2: I let it ride. You're like, Michelle, stick up your middle finger. Yes, I said it.
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Speaker 1: I've seen my dad stick up his middle finger at people before. Rest in peace, Dad. I don't think i've done that before. I have, but in like being funny. We shouldn't be sticking up our middle fingers that people, though. Could you imagine that's like when somebody sticks up their middle finger at you.
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Speaker 2: That's like you're the gutter.
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Speaker 1: And when you think of the gesture, it is funny at the same time, but it's gotta be humiliating and embarrassing, and like I said, it's gotta make you feel like gum on the bottom of a shoe.
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Speaker 2: We're not doing that. We're not doing that.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure it feels good in the moment, but maybe I should practice it. No, I'm just playing. I'm just playing. We're not practicing. We're not practicing that. We're not going to reinforce what could be seen as bad behavior. Okay, And I don't want y'all doing that, anybody listening, don't do that, Okay, don't do it.
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Speaker 2: It has been.
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Speaker 1: Wow, it's been a pretty busy season, a pretty busy month between February and now. What you have seen recently with me on the Sherry Shepherd Show, Honey, Oh my god, she got me to do something I have not done since January. Oh, I took Oh, she had me eat a nugget. Oh, that's what gave me the food poisoning. Oh, and I cannot confirm or deny if that was the actual place where the nuggets came from. Because Wendy's has nuggets, Chick fil A has nuggets, McDonald's has nuggets, who else?
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Speaker 2: Who else has nuggets?
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Speaker 1: All kind of places got nuggets and chicken tenders or whatever you want to call it, chicken bites. Everything is a nugget to me. I don't care if it's a chicken tender. Might I still might call it a nugget.
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Speaker 2: Oh, I couldn't believe it.
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Speaker 1: I guess I agreed to it, and I was like, let me see what happens.
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Speaker 2: Ooh, she unveiled that thing. M No, I do not, y'all.
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Speaker 1: When you've been sick, that's sick from eating something, or if you maybe drank too much and you got sick, you don't want to touch or even see what it was that made you so sick in the first place. So I didn't want no smoke, and I don't want to ever be that sick. You know why, because I miss being on the stage. I have to call out and not be able to work and serve honey. So yeah, that was fun and just the love Sherry has given me.
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Speaker 2: We are all.
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Speaker 1: Saddened about the Sherry Show cancelation, but my prayer is that she and everybody connected with the show they were able to pivot and grab hold to.
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Speaker 2: Something else be successful.
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Speaker 1: A cancelation does not necessarily mean the end of one's career or the end of a dream. You know, it's the end of that particular season, it's the end of that particular era, and it's the end of maybe that particular system that you are in.
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Speaker 2: Find another one and thrive.
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Speaker 1: And everybody, they're the producers, the interns, they are all so talented and so kind. So I really really, really really believe in my prayers that everyone is going to be okay. So shout out to my girl, Sherri Shepherd. Shout out to John Murray as well, former executive producer of The Sherry Shepherd Show.
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Speaker 2: I really believe everybody's gonna be all right.
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Speaker 1: It's been so much, Oh my gosh. This past weekend I was able to go to LA and sing at Campbell Hall.
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Speaker 2: Y'all.
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00:07:43
Speaker 1: I've got beyond Beyonce and Kelly who, I've got a few other close friends who have children that go to the school and it has been a joy seeing them grown up, singing in the choir and singing my first love, which is gospel music. That was a time Kelly and b miss Tina, all of them were there and I was like, to do what Jesus says, yes, I think Titan.
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Speaker 2: Kelly was pregnant with Titan at the time, you know what I mean. And so I you know, I don't. It's just let me get my calendar. You know, when you when you got so many nieces enophs, you.
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Speaker 1: Just you almost just stopped paying attention to even what year everybody was born. Chad, I just remember, wait here I go, there you go. I just remember, I think shucks, Blue wasn't Blue was a baby still when Jesus says yes, came out. I don't even know if she was one years old yet. So that was just an amazing moment. I got to be aunty and I saw some a cool comment that.
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Speaker 2: Was like, Yo, what a flex.
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Speaker 1: That is an amazing flex to be able to call up your auntie, like, hey, would you come sing with the school choir? And that's the blessing about having people in your life and you show up for each other.
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Speaker 2: So just isn't it awesome if people show up for you? Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you show up for each other, show up. So that was amazing, you know. I let me tell you some that Holy Spirit snatched me right on up. I've been in my Broadway zone and sometimes when I just get into space to where I can actually praise God. And when that song when Jesus says yes, those words still ring true. When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no, not even you.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 1: It's just like when God is the ultimate promise keeper.
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Speaker 2: Humans not so much.
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Speaker 1: We mean well, when we say, y'all, I promise O, man will fail you. But God keeps the promises. He keeps his promises. The promises of God are yes, and a man there are final.
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Speaker 2: It is sure. If God said it, you can count on it coming to pass. Now.
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Speaker 1: It might not come in our timing and when we wanted, but it sure shows up when you need it.
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Speaker 2: Okay, all right, y'all know. I tries to.
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Speaker 1: Keep my preaching to a minimum on here. But Mother got excited. Oh.
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Speaker 2: I just started thinking of the goodness of God.
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Speaker 1: I started thinking of the goodness of God in the lives of my friends, and family that were all in that audience. It was good to see Erica Campbell. It was good to see the artist major who snapped on fantasy by Earth, Wind and Fire.
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Speaker 2: You hear me.
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Speaker 1: Dietrich Hadding came out, gospel rock star. I know you're like, how can you be a gospeltist be a rock star? That Dietrich had it knows how to steal. You can still feel the heart of God in it. But he's still he knows how to balance,
he knows how to keep you engaged, up on your feet. Just and all the kids who sang lead, all the kids who were just who volunteered, who said, I just want to be in the choir, such.
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Speaker 2: Good, good, good energy.
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Speaker 1: Oh, two full hours of gospel sanging.
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Speaker 2: Lil Wayne was there.
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Speaker 1: It was just like, come on now, imagine just two hours of your soul being filled and fed on the good news.
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Speaker 2: Gospel simply means good news.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, oh that was amazing.
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Speaker 2: I was exhausted.
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Speaker 1: Flew in on a Saturday Saturday morning, did the performance, Flew on a red eye to ensure that I was back on the stage with my family at death becomes Her. I don't like missing. I don't like missing, But I'm so glad for the producers who who let me, you know, go do what I need to do at times. I have a flexible job and I'm really thankful for that.
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Speaker 2: Oh So what else?
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Speaker 1: Oh did I really speak about the Grammys and just how I guess impactful it was, and just to see new artists or to see artists that we all came up in the same era.
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Speaker 2: It was amazing.
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Speaker 1: It was absolutely amazing, and I was like, you know, I kind of voluntarily sat myself down. I could have been doing music, you know, but there is really no bud. It's just well, I'll say this, sometimes you talk yourself out of something that you know you really want to do, regardless of the results, regardless of the outcome, you know what I'm saying. But you do want to feel supported when you do your art, you know what I mean.
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Speaker 2: And so I just want.
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Speaker 1: To just really really be wise this next go round, and you know, just I guess just put it out for y'all and those that gravitate to it, gravitate to.
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Speaker 2: It, you know what I mean. Y'all have been.
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Speaker 1: Amazing, faithful and loyal and just so supportive. So that's who I would do music for and hopefully get introduced to new people.
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Speaker 2: We'll see, we shall see.
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Speaker 1: But that was such a beautiful, full experience at the Grammys Again. The night of the Grammys, Beyonce and Kelly threw an intimate dinner for me. Oh, I hate that I did not walk in that house as a Grammy winner. But I did walk in the house as a Grammy winner with them with Destiny's Child. But man, I wanted I wanted that win so bad.
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Speaker 2: I wanted it so bad. So I've been wrestling with that. I've been processing that.
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Speaker 1: Man, when you want something so bad and then it goes somewhere else, and that's a real thing. And it's okay to be human. It's okay to be disappointed.
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Speaker 2: Not bitter.
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Speaker 1: You know when I, like I said on Sherry Shepherd, like you know, when they call somebody else that's the name, and then you gotta smile and cheese because you don't know if the camera is gonna be on you, so you smile and act all excited.
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Speaker 2: Now, it's not to say that you don't have.
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Speaker 1: A genuine happiness for the other person, because guess what they were nominated to. That means they were also nominated by their peers, other musicians, artists, executives, writers, whoever that thought that this was good enough as well, that we were all good enough to be in the category with each other.
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Speaker 2: So it's like, yo, they deserve it. They worked hard too.
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Speaker 1: But let's not lie in act and act like you don't want to hear your name being called as the winner.
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Speaker 2: Okay, so I have to keep it real.
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Speaker 1: But Buena Vista Social Club, who won the Best Musical Album at the Grammys, that album is fun Nahma, No.
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Speaker 2: Okay, it is a great album.
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Speaker 1: How do I know because I listened to it.
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Speaker 2: Great and you should listen.
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Speaker 1: When you're a voting member of the Recording Academy, you should listen to people's bodies of work in that particular category and not just really vote off of popularity, right, because somebody could be popular, but there could be something else in the category or the musicality the performance. And I'm not just limiting this to the musical theater category because all the albums Gypsy come on the singing and let me tell you the singing and performance. I don't care if it was an instrumental album. Those albums are phenomenal. They are great, So there really is. It's some stiff competition. And I'm sure some of y'all that are listening you know what it means. By the time you get to the championships of any category, whether it's sports, culinary, aerospace, architecture, poetry, whatever it is that you do, by the time you get to the championships, you are competing against somebody else.
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Speaker 2: That's great at what they do.
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Speaker 1: So that's really the honor, that really is the win, that really is the win.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 1: But when the winner, you're like number one for that particular time, So do not ever dismiss that you actually wanted to win something. Don't dismiss that you got disappointed when you didn't. But two things can be true. I'm disappointed that we lost, but I also give kudos and genuine hand collaps to the winner in that category, which is the Buenavista Social Club.
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Speaker 2: The show is.
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Speaker 1: Doing amazing game, right, So yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes I encouraged myself right there.
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Speaker 2: Wooh, that's so good.
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Speaker 1: It's so good, and I hope it encourages you that.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Yo. It's okay.
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Speaker 1: You had a great expectation of something and it did not go the way you prayed or the way you desired. Okay, so it now, don't don't make that your identity.
00:18:32
Speaker 2: I'm a loser. Oh, You're not a loser.
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Speaker 1:
You're still a freaking winner. You're still freaking nominee, You're still a champion, You're you're still one of the greats. So tell yourself, whether you're in social work, you're a teacher and you were nominated for an award and you didn't get it, you're still a great teacher to be nominated. Yeah, you're still great. So tell yourself. You are still great. You're still that girl, You're still that guy, that g that whatever you call yourself.
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Speaker 2: To be, You're still that.
00:19:10
Speaker 1: All Right, the show is still going strong. I'm still in the show till at least drum roll, till at least October. And who knows, I might say, might as well stay through the holidays, might as well stay through top of twenty twenty seven. Who knows, But I will say for sure, I believe until October of twenty twenty seven. Okay, alright, you heard it from me.
00:19:47
Speaker 2: Okay, So get your tickets, get your tics, go.
00:19:51
Speaker 1: To Broadwaydirect, dot com or wherever you go to safely and legally get your tickets to death becomes her.
00:20:01
Speaker 2: I want to see you.
00:20:09
Speaker 1: All right, So I caught everybody up on the goings ons. Okay, Okay, I caught everybody up. But I definitely I've been excited about what's been going on.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Have been excited and how are y'all doing?
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Speaker 1: I know I've been, you know, thinking about everything going on in our country and in our world. I talked to my niece today because she's in the army, and she was like, Auntie, I promise you I'll keep the family breast of everything going on. I was like, okay, because she could hear like, hey, what's going on? Are you going to have to be deployed? Are you gonna have to go? But you know, I honor her because that is a brave decision that she has made to join the army.
00:21:03
Speaker 2: Okay, And she is the type.
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Speaker 1: She likes to jump out of plane, she likes to camp out, sleep in the rain and in the mud, and by she you know, so she has she's brave, right Because even when you're brave, that does not dismiss that you're afraid.
00:21:27
Speaker 2: But you do it anyway knowing that you have the tools knowing you're doing what you were taught.
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Speaker 1: So I'm brave. I'm going to be brave. I am going to be brave. Matter of fact, let's look up the meaning of the word brave. Okay. The meaning of the word brave means too ready to face and endure danger or pain, showing courage. Okay, that's according to websters. But I also have the question, can you be brave without fear?
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Speaker 2: Okay?
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Speaker 1: Can you be brave without fear? And I don't know how to pronounce his name, but according to Michael mogil, there's no courage without fear. I've also seen it said that courage is not the absence of fear. Brene Brown says you can't get to courage without rumbling with vulnerability. So being brave, you're still walking, you're still making moves, and you're acknowledging. Just don't feel good. I don't know what the outcome is gonna be.
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Speaker 2: So I like that.
00:23:17
Speaker 1: This says essentially, being brave means acknowledging the fear but refusing to let it stop you. Refusing to let it stop you. It is the willingness to act in spite of my fear.
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Speaker 2: According to full focused dot com.
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Speaker 1: Now I don't know these people, okay, but I have to acknowledge the I have to acknowledge the source.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
00:23:52
Speaker 1: According to psych dot co, true courage isn't being fearless, it's fearing well, oh.
00:24:02
Speaker 2: Love that love that, love that love that.
00:24:05
Speaker 1: So it's almost like thinking to yourself, what are the projects that you need to tackle? What are some of the things on the inside of you that you need to tackle.
00:24:17
Speaker 2: What are some of the hurdles that you need to get over.
00:24:23
Speaker 1: So just because you're afraid does not mean that that thing cannot be done. You literally just did it afraid. The slogan by Nike is just do it. It didn't say just do it happy. It didn't say just do it fearlessly. It said just do it all right. Oh this is so good. I don't even know how I got here, but it is so good.
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Speaker 2: It's so good.
00:25:02
Speaker 1: Is courage a matter of being fearless or a feeling fear in.
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Speaker 2: The right way? M mm hmmm.
00:25:11
Speaker 1: Because if brave people face things that frighten others but that they themselves do not find frightening, then one would say there is nothing worthy of respecting that. That's to understand how Aristotle navigated between these two answers of examining his theory of virtue and feeling about the virtue of courage and being brave. I also like this saying by Aristotle that the courageous person has something to lose, but they have something to gain too. Listen, you could tackle a project and not get the results, but at least you can say you did it. That's why I don't like a lot of people who criticize people over social media because it lets me know you ain't doing nothing, because if you were doing something, you would understand the courage it takes for a person to put themselves out there to be judged, critiqued, to lose. So whenever you're doing something, guys, and you decide I'm gonna be brave, I'm gonna put this out, I'm gonna put myself out there on social media, and you get a naysayer, you gotta know they must ain't never done nothing, because if they did something, they would show grace. They would just say congratulations. They would say, listen, I know you didn't get the result that you wanted, but you did it anyway.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: You showed up.
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Speaker 1: So we have to just tell ourselves, I am going to show up in spite of fear. I'm going to finish. Because how many of us said we was going to do something and we didn't finish because you were afraid of start over or you're afraid of failure. But how do you literally, how do you know until you even try? I've had to tell myself that, how do you think you're gonna fail at this?
00:27:13
Speaker 2: You haven't even completed the assignment?
00:27:16
Speaker 1: How do you know? That is why a good coach and mentor is so important, because that coach and mentor will help you get out of your own way. And the reason why I say a coach or mentor because sometimes you can confide in like an immediate family member, and they might get intimidated. They might impose their fear on you. They might project their fear on you because you trigger a project that they were supposed to do. You trigger something in them like were they man, I didn't finish school like I was supposed to.
00:27:54
Speaker 2: They didn't finish something.
00:27:55
Speaker 1: So then you get all excited and you tell them your plans and they kind of poop on it. So get a coach or mentor who has results you want to get coached by somebody who has results. You want to get coached by somebody who has the mindset that you aspire to have, because it is mindset. And remember that whatever you believe, whatever you believe, will happen. Your mindset really is a combination of your beliefs, actions, and environment. Okay, all right, I'm just telling y'all what I've learned along the way. Your mindset is a combination of beliefs, actions, and environment at times. Okay, So I just want you to be encouraged that it is okay to feel afraid. It is okay to feel afraid to untether.
00:29:17
Speaker 2: From people. Love them from afar.
00:29:21
Speaker 1: You ain't gotta cut them off, but I can imagine the fear and that, oh gosh, what are they gonna think? Where they gonna say, They're gonna think I'm better than them. You're just making better.
00:29:32
Speaker 2: Choices, that's all.
00:29:35
Speaker 1: We're not better than anybody, but some of y'all have made better choices, and that's what makes you absolutely amazing.
00:29:47
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:29:48
Speaker 1: So I just want to give y'all love and tell y'all thank you for the love and support this far. I'm excited about the year ahead. We will stay prayerful. I pray protect over you and your families, anybody that.
00:30:04
Speaker 2: Listens to this podcast. I pray for protection.
00:30:08
Speaker 1: I pray that no physical harm would come to you, your family members, or your loved ones. I pray that you and your family members and loved ones will continue to thrive in a world in which things seem so uncertain. All right, all right, I love y'all so much.
00:30:31
Speaker 2: Keep checking in.
00:30:32
Speaker 1: Don't forget to check in with yourself, check in with others, and for sure check in with God.
00:30:39
Speaker 2: Take care of me.
00:30:41
Speaker 1: Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeart Radio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.