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Dear Diary: new years · The Living Freed Podcast

• 0:20
  Dear Diary, Happy New Year! It is January 1st.
• 0:26
  Um, and to be honest, I - I swear I've been fighting
• 0:30
  the flu, which is why there will not be an episode
• 0:34
  out next week. So if you decide to listen to
• 0:39
  this episode, God bless you because I don't know
• 0:42
  about y 'all. I hate listening to somebody else
• 0:45
  talk when they're sick, which is why there probably
• 0:47
  won't be an episode out next week. I don't want
• 0:49
  you to have to listen to me talk any more than
• 0:52
  you already are willing to, to be honest, to
• 0:55
  be very honest. But I felt very pushed to share
• 1:02
  with y 'all what I've been writing in my journal.
• 1:06
  I know I've told or I've at least mentioned that
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  I write in a journal almost every day. I kind
• 1:13
  of have slowed down since November where I write
• 1:15
  in it maybe once a week at most and I would love
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  to get back into it every day and then I use
• 1:20
  Pinterest journaling prompts. So to close, December
• 1:24
  31st, I found a journaling prompt that went over
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  a handful of questions. And as I was filling
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  it out yesterday, I was like, wow, I love these
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  questions. It really gave me a lot of clarity
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  on where I'm going and where I've come from.
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  And I wanted to share it with y 'all. So in case
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  you feel any desire to do any journaling prompts,
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  this might inspire you or you can use them. And
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  you kind of get an idea of what's going on in
• 1:51
  my head and what my goals are for 2026. That's
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  so crazy. 2026. I cannot believe that we're going
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  into that year or we're here today. We're in
• 2:02
  2026. We did a prayer board making night last
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  night to close 2025 and it was so fun. My board,
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  I'm actually very proud of it. Super, super proud
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  of it. I originally was going to keep the same
• 2:18
  exact board and just. Sorry, you guys know that
• 2:26
  Dear Diary segments are unedited, so you have
• 2:28
  to just listen to this. But I was going to keep
• 2:32
  the same board and just kind of change the words
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  out and the numbers. And then I looked at the
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  pretty paper I bought and the new decorations
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  and I ripped the whole thing. out and started
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  over from scratch. I don't think anything from
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  the old board made it onto the new one except
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  for the pearl pins that keep everything in place.
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  Yeah, looking at it, that's it. And my word for
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  the year is joy. Yeah, um, you probably listened
• 3:01
  to this morning's episode in Heard Me, Caitlin.
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  talking about how surrender was our word and
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  to be honest surrender has been my main word
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  since like 2020 maybe 2019 i'm not really sure
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  but it's been a long time and it will always
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  be like i feel like that's always gonna be like
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  my base word you know like my foundational word
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  will probably be surrender for the rest of my
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  life but my main word for 2026 see already messed
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  up for 2026 is gonna be joy but anyway so let's
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  jump into what i my dear diary friends, but I
• 3:38
  put into my journal. So the first question that
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  my prompt asked was, what do I want this new
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  year to feel like? I put, I want this year to
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  feel like joy, excitement, adventure. The next
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  question says, what habits do I want to build?
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  I put, I want to be more extroverted. I put that
• 4:00
  because I feel like I have become very introverted.
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  During 2025 I've entered a year of 2025 I would
• 4:08
  say was my year of peace Just peace and quietness
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  and slowness. I took a break from the dating
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  world. I took a break from traveling I really
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  didn't travel much. I mean I went to Iceland
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  and I really think that was I mean, I did a couple
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  like weekend trips I went to Raleigh. I went
• 4:26
  to the mountains. I went down to Georgia. I went
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  to Charlotte But honestly, for me, I didn't travel
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  that much and I feel like I really kind of have
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  grown into a shell and I'm not as outgoing or
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  as extroverted as I used to be. So that's why
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  I put that. The next one is, what is my top...
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  Oh wait, no. What habits do I want to leave behind?
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  I said giving unsolicited feedback because I
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  feel like lately... I've been giving feedback
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  that no one that no one's been asking for so
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  sorry for those who sorry sorry to those who
• 5:10
  have been on the receiving end of that um okay
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  what is my top goal for this year i said to put
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  more trust in god's plan for my life because
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  i feel like I've spent a lot of time trying to
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  earn God's plans if that makes sense and not
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  really just trusting that he will do what he's
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  gonna do whether You know because we have to
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  be along for the ride. Um Sorry, I wanted to
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  rephrase that a little differently. Um Yeah,
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  so I just want to put more trust in his plans
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  versus trying to earn his plans I feel like I've
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  been doing all the work because I am a big believer
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  that you have to take steps to get action and
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  that he calls us to steps just like Abraham he
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  called Abraham into a journey but Abraham had
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  to take those steps to leave his hometown. I
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  also believe that we have to do that um but then
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  in doing that I've been trying to earn his plans
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  versus just trusting in his plan. Okay um what
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  do I want to become? Said more confident in the
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  plans. I'm sure God has for me which goes back
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  to the original Not the original but the last
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  one I just read What am I grateful for I said
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  the boldness I'm living in the trust and faith
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  I have in God How he has shown up for me hit
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  this year the calmness I got to experience this
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  year because even though This year has definitely
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  had its ups and downs and a lot of unsurities
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  have come along the way I do feel like there's
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  a lot of boldness in my living. There's a lot
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  of boldness in me doing this podcast. There's
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  a lot of boldness in how I talk about my faith
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  at work with the clients that it does come up
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  with and there's a lot of boldness in how I handle
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  my faith in Jesus. And I'm very, very, very thankful
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  for the calmness that he has provided this year
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  because the last few years, honestly, since before
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  even moving to California, I was always on a
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  plane. I was always doing something that I probably
• 7:19
  would never do otherwise. I was living a lot
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  of big adventures, but I never really knew where
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  I was going to land next outside of where my
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  home base was. And I was dating a lot and I met
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  some really interesting human beings, some really
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  great people and some people that I will be happy
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  to never cross paths again. So I've just really
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  enjoyed the calmness that has come with 2025
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  that I get to close with. What mindset do I want
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  to carry moving forward? I said that I trust
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  God and through him all things are possible.
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  I know, such a cliche, but it's what I wrote
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  in the moment and that's kind of how I do my
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  journaling. I don't think too much on my answers.
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  I just respond right away. Um, okay. What...
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  What is that word? Oh wow, I cannot read my own
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  handwriting. That's embarrassing. Okay, what
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  area of life needs the most focus? My finances
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  I need to focus on how when and where I spend
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  my money Sorry the laughs triggers the cough
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  the cough Um That's so real I if anyone followed
• 8:43
  me on Instagram, you probably saw that story
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  I posted which was like If there's a will, there's
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  a way that I will spend my money, and if not,
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  I will create one. And that is true. I am wise
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  with my money, let me say that. I tithe, I make
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  donations to non -profits, but I have certain
• 9:00
  goals that I need to reach financially for what
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  is to come. But I don't know if it gets mentioned
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  in this, so I'm waiting to see because I don't
• 9:09
  want to like jump too far ahead. But yeah, financially,
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  I need to. focus more on that area. Okay. What
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  do I want to do more this year? I said invest
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  in others, create Jesus centered community and
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  celebrate the small things in life. I've really
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  stepped away from celebrating small things and
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  I really want to get into having dinner parties
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  this year. that are themed, be very intentional
• 9:39
  with my time with people. And again, I spent
• 9:42
  2025 becoming more and more introverted and pulling
• 9:45
  away from people. And I really want to get back
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  out there and spend more time with people and
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  celebrating others in their things and celebrating
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  myself in the small things. It doesn't always
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  need to be a big thing. So that's my focus. OK.
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  And then. What do I want my life to look like
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  by December? I said full of love from God friends
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  and family joy and the experience of it The podcast
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  had I want to see the podcast has grown and people
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  experience the freedom that comes with Jesus
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  and are living like it Getting ready to move
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  into a house that has an open door policy. That
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  is a warm loving welcoming space for others And
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  that was my close for 2025. Yeah Those are the
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  goals now I did um Go ahead and do a prompt for
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  january 1st and i'll read it for y 'all because
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  today is the day and it's funny because I used
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  two different prompts and they ended up Being
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  very similar and one was not christian focused
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  one was just like a january prompt and the other
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  one was like a prayer prompt and It was funny
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  how They really are How things line up? Let me
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  say that okay? So, the non -Christian, it was
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  just January Day 1 prompt says, what energy do
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  I want to carry into this year? I said, joy.
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  I want everything I do, say, or participate in
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  to be done with, with, in, and through God's
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  joy. The Christian prompt was, what is one habit
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  or mindset I'd like to grow it? I said, the same
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  as above. I want the joy of the Lord to radiate
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  in me through me and through my life so abundantly."
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  And that is the closure for prompts of this year.
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  I love prompts. They really help me get focused.
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  I'm not a good journaler. I've talked about that
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  before. I really need something to kind of inspire
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  me or like work towards or write towards. So
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  prompts are, they work for me in that way. They
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  work really, really well. Okay. Well, that's
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  all I have for you. I know short, sweet, simple.
• 12:00
  Again, finding this cold. I'm so sorry anybody
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  has to listen to me talk with this voice. So
• 12:05
  that being said, we are gonna probably take off
• 12:08
  another week from the podcast just because I
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  don't want y 'all to have to listen to me talk
• 12:13
  like this and the deep breaths and the stepping
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  nose and the coughing in the background. But
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  anyways, I hope that y 'all are having a beautiful
• 12:21
  Happy New Year's and if you have any goals, I
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  would love to hear them. Alright, XOXO, Happy
• 12:27
  New Year!