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- how to live with more honor
When I was 20, I wanted to be a rapper.
But I was too scared of one conversation and it killed the dream.
A few weeks ago, I set an intention to live with more honor.
Honor means regular exercise, meditation, prayer, journaling.
Being ruthless creative, challenging my edges, remaining dedicated to my work.
Enjoying meaningful relationships, eating and scrolling better… and clearing up energy.
Yesterday, I took a huge step towards amplifying my energy.
When I wanted to be a rapper, one of my best friends worked at a studio.
Somehow, his boss heard one of our songs and asked for more.
Months later, we were set to release an EP—four songs + four music videos.
I rapped and did the videos. My friend sung and did the music.
It wasn’t perfect, but I loved it.
We had a release date and 100 friends enlisted to share the project when it dropped.
We released the first song, then the second.
Someone commented on YouTube, “This is worse than Rebecca Black’s Friday.”
And then… we stalled.
The release was weeks away, but - one song wasn’t finished.
And my friend never planned to finish it.
The project wasn’t aligned with what he wanted for his career.
We never talked about it. The project fizzled.
I didn’t want to threaten our friendship by bringing it up.
Eleven years went by.
Eleven years showing friends a Google Drive project called “EP@95%”
Now my friend has a solid music career.
And I’ve lived a decade asking, “What if?”
Not what if the songs went platinum, but what if I kept going?
What if I wasn’t afraid?
Or, what if I was afraid and did it anyways?
Because everything I’ve been afraid to do and done anyways has worked out better than I expected.
So, a decade later, and I asked my friend if I could release it.
He said sure.
I put a snippet online.
He texted me immediately asking to take it down.
I said no*.
No more what ifs.
With honor,
Orly
If you’d like to get yourself up on stages and stop living with what if’s, I’ve condensed a $6000 speaking class into a $75 speaker training event tomorrow night in Venice.
Meet with other speakers-in-training, hear from a 27-year-old who is a booking speeches around the country, and get on the list for my free storyteller supper series - available only to the people who come thru trainings.
P.S. If you’re interested but $75 is too much, reply here and I’ll see what I can do!
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*I didn’t just say no straight up. I said that I heard his request and would be happy to discuss more with him while also mentioning that I didn’t want to take it down. Better communication.