Episode 37

full
Published on:

16th Jul 2025

The Summer You Turn Iconic: Your Rulebook for Living Iconically

☀️ It’s your official summer rule book, Radiant Icons.

In today’s tea time, Amanda is breaking down the six rules you need to live your most iconic life this summer. From being delusionally confident to dressing up just for you, she’s keeping it real about her own journey to reclaim her sparkle and protect her peace.

This isn’t just about looking cute poolside — it’s about creating core memories, pouring into yourself first, and stepping into every sun-soaked moment with iconic energy. ✨

🎧 Tap in for a heart-to-heart that’ll leave you feeling inspired, unstoppable, and ready to make this your most iconic summer yet.

Connect with Amanda:

Follow Amanda's DTBI Journey!

Shop the Paddock Icons Collection today!

Got a question for Amanda or a topic you'd love to hear discussed on a future episode? Submit your question to the "Dare To Be Iconic Hotline" today!

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome back, Radiant Icons ✨

01:35 Why you need a summer rule book to live iconically

04:34 Rule 1: Be delusionally confident — main character mode only

05:39 Rule 2: Move your body for joy, not punishment

07:35 Rule 3: Protect your peace like it’s designer

10:51 Rule 4: Dress up for you— your sparkle, your rules

13:31 Rule 5: Create core memories you’ll tell stories about

16:27 Rule 6: Pour into yourself first, always

19:13 Make your iconic summer vow

19:45 See you next week!

Transcript
Amanda Paolicelli:

What's up radiant icons and welcome back to Dare To Be

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Iconic, the podcast made for icons

who are daring to be themselves.

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I'm your host, Amanda Paolicelli,

and for today's tea time sesh, we are

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spilling the tea on your rule book

to living iconically this summer.

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Because this summer is the

summer that you turn iconic.

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So I have crafted six iconic rules

so that you can live iconically

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this summer because you know, we

started with a little summer reset

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because we all need a little reset

at times, sometimes more than others.

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You know, I needed one.

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I needed one desperately.

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And now that we have our summer

reset in check and now we are living

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with intention, it is now time

to craft your rule book for this

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summer so that you can literally

live your most iconic girl energy.

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Now, before we get into all of that

good stuff, make sure to connect with

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me on socials, on Instagram and TikTok.

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It's @amandapaolicelli_

and @daretobeiconic_.

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And if you're on LinkedIn radiant icons,

you already know what I'm gonna say.

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Make sure to connect with me on there.

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It's Amanda Paolicelli.

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Now let's get to that rule book.

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Are you ready?

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radiant icons because your

tee time sesh is starting now.

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Let me be completely honest with you

as to why these rules matter so much.

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These rules matter because

this summer is different.

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We are healing, but making it iconic.

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We are choosing ourselves first this

summer, because this summer is all

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about being iconic for yourself first.

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It's not about chasing moments.

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It's not about seeking

external validation.

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It's not about those hot

girl summer stereotypes.

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You know what I mean?

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It's about being you- daring to

be yourself this summer so you

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can live your most iconic life.

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This is a reminder that iconic doesn't

mean to be perfect because honestly,

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remember we are all imperfectly iconic.

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I'm sure as shit not perfect.

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I am going through so much mental and

emotional turmoil right now, and honestly,

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that's why I created this rule book so

that I can now also get myself in check

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and start living my most iconic summer

because honestly, these past two months

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of summer, like I have mentioned in last

week's episode, I have been struggling.

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That is not a secret, and like I said

in my keynote speech last Wednesday,

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which by the way, thank you to everyone,

who tuned in like my radiant icons.

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You guys show up.

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All the time for me, and that was

such a big moment for me, and I

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appreciate everyone who tuned in live.

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I know it was super early in the morning.

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I truly, truly do appreciate it and

honestly, what I mentioned in my keynote

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is speaking true to my life this summer.

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You have to dare to embrace those shifts

in life and real leadership is showing

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up while you are still becoming, it's

being brave enough to say, you know what?

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I don't have it all figured out,

but I'm gonna be figuring it out

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out loud, that's being a leader

and that is what I am trying to do.

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And so this summer when I was

creating this rule book for you guys.

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I was thinking back to my keynote

speech and how I was daring everyone

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to embrace those shifts in life, to

embrace those painful moments that

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will turn into powerful opportunities

to embrace being yourself.

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And I think that's what I've

been missing this summer is that.

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I haven't been daring to be

me to the fullest extent.

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I haven't been fully

leaning into my magic.

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I've kind of lost myself a bit, you guys.

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And I also know I mentioned that last week

that I stopped living by my intention.

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And honestly, this whole

process of becoming is messy.

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And it's nonlinear, but it's my

journey, and I'm going to heal out loud.

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I'm going to figure it

out loud with you guys.

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So these are my six rules to live your

most iconic life this summer because

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this is the summer that you turn

iconic, and I'm right here with you.

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So let's get into those

rules radiant icons.

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The first rule is be

delusionally confident.

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Honestly, I think I've

lost my delusional -ist.

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I don't even know if that's a

word, but I have lost that part

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of me just a tad bit this summer.

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I've been a little bit too logical

and like that's great in real life,

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but honestly there is something

so magical about being delusional.

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So my first rule for this summer

is being delusively confident.

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Everything is going to work out for

me because simply I am that girl.

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I am going to be my own hype woman.

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Even if no one else has my back,

I'm still gonna hype myself up.

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I am going to be so delusionally confident

from this point forward so that I can live

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my most iconic life and live through my

intention of, you know, iconic, right?

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Embracing that true

essence of iconic for me.

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I need to be delusionally confident.

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Just as I've been in the first half of

the year, I need to keep doing that.

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And yeah, that's my

first rule for you guys.

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The second one, move my body for joy.

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Do things for me.

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I mean, walk, I mean dance.

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I mean stretching.

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I mean yoga, Pilates, lagree.

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Any way you wanna shape it.

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That's movement.

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I need to start doing that.

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For Joy, if I'm gonna be honest, the

summer brings up a lot of body image

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issues for me, and it's hard, right?

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Being in barely no clothing in the summer.

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And mind you, I also love

to wear barely any clothing.

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I love to wear revealing stuff

like that is just who I am.

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I love to show off my body, but

I also have body image issues.

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I know it doesn't make sense, but honestly

for for, for most of my radiant icons,

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maybe you understand my drift here, right?

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It's a struggle being in

our mind sometimes, right?

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We love to show up our bodies and

then sometimes we just hate our

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bodies, and that's my struggle daily.

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I have a lot of body image

issues and that's just my truth.

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Okay.

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I am living it out right here, right

now, and the biggest thing for me is I

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need to learn how to move my body for

joy and not for that external result

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that I want to look so thin, to look

so skinny, to look so good to match

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those, um, social media standards.

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Right, or stereotypes or honestly,

that hot girl stereotype of being.

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So, so slim and to have the hips

and the this and the that, and

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like I need to realize that my

body will never look like that.

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I'm a hot girl.

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On my own.

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My body is hot.

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I am hot.

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I need to embrace that, and

I need to move for myself.

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I need to have movement in

my life that creates joy.

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That isn't a punishment,

that isn't a requirement.

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I need to start looking at

movement in that lens for me.

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And so that's my second

rule for this summer.

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My third one is I need

to protect my peace.

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I am losing myself a little

bit every single day.

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Honestly, I am losing myself.

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I don't know what has been triggered

within me that my overthinking and

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my overanalyzing and my anxiety has

been in an all time high this summer.

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And I need to protect my peace.

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It is affecting me so much, and yes,

therapy is a great tool and I've been

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using the exercises and the prompts

in my life, and that has helped.

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I think the biggest thing that I

need to do is protect my peace.

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I need to protect my

time, protect my energy.

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So for me, a way I'm going to

protect my peace when it comes to

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rule number three is social media.

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Social media is killing my mental health,

and it's funny, right, because I connect

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with you guys through social media

and it's a great tool and I love it.

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There's a big negative effect to it, and

for me, it's significantly impacting my

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thoughts and my instincts and my gut.

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To be honest, I think there's too

much noise around me and social

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media is a big factor to it.

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'Cause every time I go on

TikTok, it's always about,

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what's this attachment style?

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And if this person acts this way, this

is what it means and this and that.

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And you, you kind of lose the sense of

what you think and what you believe.

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And I know I've, I've kind

of lost that this summer.

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I've kind of lost that,

that strong instinct.

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Gut reaction to myself of like, no,

this is what I wanna do, or, no, I

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know this is the right way to go.

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I've kind of lost it because I

have so much noise around me.

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I've lost what I truly think,

and it's because I haven't

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been protecting my peace.

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I haven't been protecting my energy.

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And so for me, I need to

start protecting my peace.

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I need to be more selective on how I

use my time, especially on social media.

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So for me.

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I'm going to now go back and

curate my feed to the world that

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I want to see, and if it gets too

much, I'm gonna put my phone away.

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I'm gonna stop the doom

scrolling at night.

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I'm gonna stop the doom

scrolling in the middle of the

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day when I have nothing to do.

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I'm going to fill that time with

something that is productive

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and useful for my mental health.

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Maybe it's a self-help podcast.

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And honestly, that's kind of hard because

when you, you know, you work in the

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self-help field, the last thing you wanna

do is listen to another self-help podcast.

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Honestly, I'm just being honest.

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Okay?

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Um, but, you know, feeling that

time with something that is going to

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make me feel alive, that's going to

spark that productivity within me.

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So that's maybe reading a book, maybe

it's journaling, maybe it's watching

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a show that I really wanna watch,

maybe going on a walk, exercising.

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Right, maybe combining

two and three right here.

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That's a way that I'm looking at rule

number three, and I hope that you guys

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look at it too, because social media.

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It's one of the best things in the world,

but it's also super negative you guys.

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So protect your peace this summer

and honestly all the damn time.

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Rule number four is

dressing up for yourself.

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Wear the outfit that

makes you feel so iconic.

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The outfit that when you walk into

a room, you exude confidence because

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you are so comfortable and confident

in your skin that everyone turns:

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looks at you and goes, damn, that girl

not only is hot, but she's confident

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because confidence is sexy people, okay?

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And it's iconic.

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So wear the outfit that you wanna wear.

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Stop caring what the vibe is for the

night, or what other people are wearing,

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or what your partner is going to think.

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Wear the outfit that you wanna wear.

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Dress up for yourself.

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And I know I'm guilty of that

because honestly, this summer I

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get into that hot girl stereotype.

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And I kind of forget my own fashion.

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So I've been challenging myself lately

to lean into the magic of who I am and

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start dressing up for myself more often.

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Wear the outfits that I think are

really, really cute and that are

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screaming Amanda, because you know.

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We are all daring to be ourselves

in this world, and one way to

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express your individuality or your

iconicness is through fashion.

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So I'm going to wear the outfits

that I wanna wear that I think

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make me look so damn good that make

me feel so confident and iconic.

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That just screamed me.

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Like the other day, I went out to my

best friend's birthday dinner and I was

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wearing this gorgeous, tight, long, had a

nice little slit on the side green dress.

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The color that I don't usually

wear, but I love it 'cause it

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makes my eyes look so good.

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And I had this cute little belt

and then I wore it with these,

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oh my God, they were so Amanda.

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It was like these gold earrings

that were like a star on the top.

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And then it had a droop down

heart in gold with cheetah print.

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Name a more Amanda earring.

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You cannot.

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You simply cannot.

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That is everything you

need in an Amanda earring.

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Point blank and period.

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It's gold, it's cheetah print.

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There's a star and a heart.

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Like, are you kidding me?

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Those earrings were made

for me, so yeah, I wore it.

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It may be a little bit

unconventional, right?

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But it's me, it's Amanda.

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So I've started to dress up for myself

again and has made me feel so alive

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and experimenting with fashion and what

honestly makes me feel so confident and

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comfortable with my skin has been one

of the most freeing feelings you guys.

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And I just encourage you and

challenge you that this summer.

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Don't lean into the stereotypes.

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Wear what you want to wear and have fun

and experiment and just dare to be you.

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Okay?

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Just dare to be you.

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Radiant icons, 'cause that's

the most powerful thing that

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you can do for yourself.

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Now, let's get to rule number five.

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Rule number five is create

those core memories.

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Capture every single moment.

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Capture the moments that are messy.

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Capture the moments that

are so picture perfect.

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Capture the moments that are in between

that seem a little neutral and like

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boring capture every single thing.

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And when I tell you to

create those core memories.

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I mean, the memories of you dancing so

hard on the dance floor that you literally

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pass out because of heat exhaustion, and

yes, that has happened to me this summer.

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I was shaking my ass way too

much that I literally collapsed

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on, on the Senior Frogs dance

floor, I fell into a chair, okay?

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And I had, everyone around me was

like fanning me and putting ice on me.

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Like it, it was a lot, you guys, okay?

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Like it was so ridiculously hot.

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And I was shaking my ass because

when I go out dancing, I go hard.

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Okay?

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I love to dance.

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I could care less about drinking.

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I truly, truly can, but damn.

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Dancing.

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That's my girl.

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And if there's good music, I'm

on the dance floor all night.

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I don't take breaks for water.

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And that's definitely, that

definitely did bite me in the ass.

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Okay.

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Like that.

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Definitely did.

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Like I literally.

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Fell into a chair and

not even at my own table.

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And these girls were so nice, okay?

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Never met them.

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Complete strangers.

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They were fanning me with napkins.

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My boyfriend is like holding

my hair, blowing on my neck,

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rubbing ice on my back.

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My girlfriend's, Becs and Isa

are rubbing ice on me, giving

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me water like it was a whole.

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A whole production, but of course

only that would happen to me.

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But like those are the moments

that are core memories.

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You guys like that is what you need

to create in your summer of:

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Maybe don't pass out on a dance floor, but

you know what I mean, you get the vibe or

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even like going out and singing karaoke.

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I've never done karaoke until literally

4th of July when I was out with my

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boyfriend and his friends and we were.

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Not we were, because

honestly, the guys were not.

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It was the girls.

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Okay.

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The girls and I were putting

on a full production.

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Okay.

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We were giving every song in the catalog.

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We were literally performing and

giving the best, most iconic per.

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Performance of everyone's lives.

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Everyone honestly was thanking us

because we were the entertainment,

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we were the live show.

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But you know, it's things like that,

like the karaoke on the beach, right?

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It's singing your lungs out.

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It's the dancing so hard

that you literally pass out.

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It's kissing in the driveway,

kissing in the rain.

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Crying in the damn park.

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It's everything and anything

that is what this summer is for.

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The summer that you turn iconic is the

summer that you create core memories.

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It's the summer that you

live your most iconic life.

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So yeah, rule number five,

may one of my favorites.

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Just go for it.

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Literally have the most iconic summer of

your life and create those core memories.

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Now, the last and final rule for your

rule book to live iconically this

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summer is pour into yourself first.

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And damn, I'm guilty of this, you

guys, because I haven't done it.

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I have not done it.

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And I know that's why I've.

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I've been feeling really off my

axis, not only because I haven't been

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living in my intention for the last

two months, right, but it's because

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I've forgotten to prioritize myself.

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I've forgotten to pour into myself

first and do the things that

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make me feel happy and alive.

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I've been focusing on a lot of different

things this summer, and that's not bad.

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It's not bad to focus on

relationships in your life.

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It's not bad to focus on your

business or your job or whatever it

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is that's going on, but sometimes

when we prioritize other things over

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ourselves, we start to lose ourselves

and we start to spiral a little bit.

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And if I'm gonna be honest, I've

definitely been spiraling a bit.

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And so for me, rule number six

is one that I'm going to have

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to challenge myself with a lot.

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'cause I'm not good at

prioritizing myself sometimes.

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Especially in the last two months,

I've definitely seen the, the adverse

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effects of not doing it right.

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So I'm going to challenge myself to

journal more and to have more of those

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quiet mornings where I get rooted

in my body before I start the day.

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I'm gonna actually create those morning

rituals and those nighttime rituals that I

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wanted to do at the beginning of the year.

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Right?

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I'm gonna start including that into

my day so I can start putting myself

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first, I'm going to start incorporating

those practices of gratitude in my

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daily life so I can live in this

constant state of positivity and

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gratitude, like gratefulness, right and

thankfulness for the world around me

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and what it is giving to me in return.

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And so rule number six, you have to

pour into yourself first because you

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are gonna lose yourself if you do not.

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And I am learning that the hard way, and

I hope that these six rules get me back on

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track because again, I've already done my

iconic summer reset with you guys, right?

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I've looked at.

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What I've done, what I need to do,

and how I've, I've been in alignment

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and maybe how I haven't been in

alignment with my intention, right?

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So now that I have a better understanding

of it, I'm allowed to now go into

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this rule book to live iconically

this summer and start truly living

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in the last weeks of summer, truly

start living in my intention again.

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Truly starting to dare to be

iconic in my most iconic way.

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'cause it's the most powerful

act that you can do for yourself.

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It's okay to admit that you need a reset.

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It's okay to admit that

you need realignment.

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It's okay that sometimes you need

a rule book to get back to there,

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and that's exactly what this is.

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And also, on top of that, I've made

a little iconic summer vow for myself

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that I'm going to share with you guys.

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So this summer will be about choosing

myself every day, even when it gets hard.

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I choose joy.

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I choose happiness.

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I choose confidence.

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I choose to dare to be iconic.

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That is my iconic summer vow, and I

challenge you to create your own rule book

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for this summer and also create your own

iconic summer vow that you will live by.

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Oh my gosh, radiant icons.

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That was so much fun.

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Like I, I honestly haven't

had that much fun in a while.

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I loved that.

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I love a good rule book.

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So thank you guys for going

on this journey with me.

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I absolutely love it, but that's your tea

time session for today, radiance Icons.

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If you enjoyed today's episode, make

sure to subscribe to leave a rating,

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a review to tell your friends about

us, to tell everyone and anyone,

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because you know we love more radiant

icons in our iconic community of ours.

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But honestly, radiance icons.

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I love today's episode.

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It was honestly so much fun and truly like

if I'm being so for real with you guys.

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It was the positivity

that I needed in my day.

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Today has been really hard the, the day

that I am recording this episode and

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creating this and prepping for this has

been the joy of today for me, and I'm

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truly so grateful that I get to do this

and I get to share this journey with

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you guys, and I get to heal out loud

and figure it out loud with you guys.

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So thank you for being on this journey.

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I hope this tea time sesh allows

you to live your most iconic life

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this summer, because remember, this

is the summer that you turn iconic.

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I'll chat with you guys next week.

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Remember, radiant icons.

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Dare to be iconic.

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Bye.

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About the Podcast

Dare To Be Iconic
Embrace Your Iconic Self
Are you ready, radiant icons?

Welcome to "Dare To Be Iconic," the podcast made for icons daring to be themselves. Hosted by your favorite icon, Amanda Paolicelli, "Dare To Be Iconic" is not just another self-help podcast—it's your weekly tea time session where Amanda spills all the tea on topics like self-confidence, self-improvement, healing, and personal growth.

Why Choose "Dare To Be Iconic"?

~Real Talk, Real Transformation: Amanda's journey from heartbreak to triumph is the heartbeat of the show. This podcast is a safe space for raw, authentic conversations about healing, self-confidence, self-improvement, and personal growth.

~Practical Tips: Amanda shares practical, actionable tips that you can implement in your daily life. From overcoming setbacks to cultivating a positive mindset, each episode equips you with tools to navigate your dare-to-be-iconic journey.

~Community of Radiant Icons: Join a community of like-minded individuals who are also on their dare-to-be-iconic journey. The podcast is an invitation to be part of a supportive community that celebrates victories, learns from challenges, and grows together.

~Midweek Boost: Need a midweek pick-me-up? Tune in every Wednesday for your weekly tea time session.

Subscribe now, radiants icons, because your tea time session is starting.
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About your host

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Amanda Paolicelli