July 24, 2025 • 34 mins
Commencing on a journey of self-exploration and personal growth, Jerome Mbaga introduces listeners to the inaugural episode of his podcast, 'Free to Grow'. The discourse is comprised of a rich tapestry of personal anecdotes and reflections that encapsulate his multifaceted life experiences. As a recent high school graduate from St. Michael's College School, with aspirations of pursuing a career in medicine, Jerome candidly shares his tumultuous past, including the challenges of navigating a complex family dynamic marked by trauma. His narrative reveals a profound yearning for freedom from the constraints of his upbringing and a desire to evolve into a more compassionate individual for those around him. The podcast serves as a platform for Jerome to articulate his thoughts, engage in meaningful conversations, and foster connections with his audience, ultimately aiming to inspire others on their personal journeys of growth and self-discovery.
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(00:03):
Hello. I hope you guys are alldoing very well on this fine Thursday.
My name is Jerome Mbaga andwelcome to Free to Grow. This is
my new podcast, my very firstpodcast. And I'm really, really,
really excited to get to knowall of you, for you guys to get to
(00:26):
know me better and for this tojust be a really, really fun and
unique ride for both of us. Soa little bit of history on me. As
I said before, my name isJerome Mbaga. I recently just graduated
high school. I'm from Toronto,Canada, and now I'm uploading this
(00:47):
in July. So it's been about amonth since I've graduated high school.
I'm going to university nextyear for medical science. I'm hoping
to become a doctor. And sothat's kind of where I'm at right
now. I'm working over thesummer right now at a kids day camp,
which is super fun. SomethingI really, really, really enjoy. And
(01:10):
I have a lot of time on myhands. I have a lot of time on my
hands being in school with alot of the extracurriculars I did
and commitments I hadthroughout the year and just life
in general. I didn't have toomuch time to start a podcast, but
I've always, really, really,really wanted to start a podcast
(01:32):
because I've just always hadso much to say, like, so much to
say. I'm definitely,definitely a yapper. But I also,
I also loved havingconversations with my friends on
a variety of levels aboutabsolutely anything. Whether it's
just hearing about their day,what they are up to over the weekend,
(01:57):
what makes them happy, whatthey're sad about. Like, I've just
always been that, like, or atleast try to always been that friend
for those around me so theyfeel comfortable. They can always,
like, they always have someoneto go talk to. And I love it. I really
love being a listener. Andwhen I get to have those conversations,
like really nice, like latenight conversations with a friend
(02:17):
while we're like grabbingpizza, sitting on a curb or something,
or I'm just laying on thecouch on my phone with one of my
buddies, whether that's likeI'm sitting on the beach with my
girlfriend and we're justtalking, it's just like, that is
really what I live for. Orespecially around campfires, that's
really what I live for. So youcould tell I like talking. And so
that's why I'm here starting apodcast. And when I went about this
(02:43):
journey, I think I like, Ireally, really committed to starting
a Podcast now, in this pointin time, about two, three weeks ago,
I was really scared andconfused on what to call it because
I just had no clue where tostart. And I also didn't really have
(03:04):
a niche that I could like, yapon about every single week. I'm not
that into like one particularthing, which I think is something
I like, but also somethingthat I could see myself getting into
as well. So, yeah, that's whyI called it Free to Grow. I felt
that had like a lot of freedomin the decisions I of like what I
get to talk about. I felt thatit really encapsulates what I'm trying
(03:28):
to do. I'm just trying to growinto a better human and a better
person for those, the peoplein life around me. So basically I
love talking and I've alwaysfelt misunderstood in throughout
my life because I come from avery, very, very traumatic family
(03:50):
history and childhood. Soabout seven months ago, I ran away
from home. I emotionally hadleft my house, let's say some odd,
like 12 years ago, butphysically leaving my house and leaving
(04:13):
what was under the care of mymom happened seven months ago. It
was during school, rightaround my birthday. I was 16 years
old at the time. Now I'm 17,but I'm turning 18. But it was like
in October and that was very,very, very rough. I had no clue what
to do. I just knew somethinghad to change because it was coming
(04:37):
from a place where my homelife was really affecting my life
at school, which is like theworst end game for me ever. I just
wasn't eating at all becausethere wasn't food available. I just
wasn't coming back to a warm,welcoming space. And it was just,
it was a dangerous environmentto be in, let's put it that way.
(05:00):
And so you can tell that I'mone for making big leaps, big leaps
into something. And so it wasreally scary at first. There were
some nights where there wasn'ta place to stay for sure, but for
a majority of the nights, Ileaned on my friends, my closest
friends around me that havebeen my guiding support throughout
the entirety of me knowingthem. I slept at a lot of their houses
(05:25):
for extended periods of time,whether that be like one day or a
month, two months. And thenespecially she's also my friend,
but my girlfriend as well. Ileaned on her, I say the most. I
live with her, I live with mygirlfriend, which is, I feel like
every teenage relationship'sdream or maybe nightmare once they
(05:46):
really move in. But I've beenliving with my girlfriend for the
past, like, officially movedin in, like, February, but I was
in and out since, I want tosay, December. So let's just call
it. Let's. Let's call it sixmonths. I'm. No, I'm not smiling.
(06:10):
Let's just call it six orseven months. And I pushed through.
I was. I didn't really havethe time to start something like
this, like a podcast then,because I was just really scared
on how I'm gonna get to go touniversity, because I love learning.
And so that's where I was at.I was. I was terrified. But luckily,
(06:30):
I have amazing friends, anamazing girlfriend. This is like
a friend group I've been withfor years, and I've been dating my
girlfriend for coming up ontwo years in a month. Ish. And so,
yeah, that's a little bitabout me. I know that sounds like
a lot and definitely traumadumping, but that's literally what
a podcast is for, because it'smine. But I don't want this podcast
(06:55):
to necessarily be all serious.There definitely will be some times
where I will go into a topicand be like, whoa, I did not know
this about Jerome. Whether youknow me in real life or this is the
first time you're meeting me,but, yeah, there's just a lot of
stuff going on in my life allthe time. So let's move on to a bit
(07:16):
of a lighter topic and talkabout what makes me happy. So I'll
start off by listing somehobbies. I love my hobbies. I definitely
come from a crazy life, butsomehow through, like, an infinite
amount of people that havehelped me, whether it's through financial
(07:37):
aid, emotional support,physical support in my journey, it's
just, like, amazing. Anyways,I'm a huge camping dude, Canoe tripping
dude. I've been going to thisone camp called Camp Candelore. Best
camp in the world. If you're aparent, send your kids there. If
you're my age, work there nextsummer. If you are there right now.
(07:58):
Amazing. I'm jealous. Butamazing, amazing, amazing place.
And it's really my home. It'sdefinitely the place I've. It's definitely
the place I've been in thelongest because I've started going
to Camp Candleore when I was,I think, four or five, maybe six.
(08:19):
I don't know, four or five orsix. And I went back basically every
single summer since then. Ithink there was one or two summers
I missed since then, but fromfive or six years old until 16 years
old, I was at Camp Candelore.And it was spectacular. I just grew
so much as a person. I learnedto love outdoors, which I think is
(08:42):
a bit of a rarity amongst.Well, I wouldn't say now, but maybe
the next generation of kids.So I'm very happy that I learned
to, like, appreciate outdoorsand love it. It's, like, amazing.
Anyways, moving on. I lovecanoe trips and camping because I
get to be weird. I get to beoutside, and I get to be a part of
the team. And that's, like,everything I love. Next. I really
like singing, dancing, andacting. Some people know this. If
(09:07):
you look at my Instagram,you'll definitely figure that one
out because I have a lot ofposts of me, like, singing. I think
three or four, who knows?Anyways, I drowned my school's musical
this year. Footloose. Amazing.Would do it again a billion times
over. My music teacher, Mr.Oat, actually wanted me to join in,
(09:29):
like, grade, like, seven,grade eight. He was like, jerome,
join, Jerome, join. And I cannever really explain that. I just
never. I didn't have the timeto do that because I just. Life was
exploding in front of my face.Joining a musical and, like, committing
myself to hours of rehearsalevery single day, which is not a
possibility. But if I'm gonnabe more honest, I was scared. I was
(09:54):
very scared about how my peerswere going to look at me, inject
me as, like, kind of a theaterkid, which I probably am now. I'm
not, like, a super theaterkid. No disrespect to theater kids,
but I was really scared of howmy peers were gonna look at me and
kind of lose that, like, alphamale personality kind of thing. Like,
(10:16):
what's this dude doing jumpingand skipping around in a cowboy costume
on stage? But it was so fun.It was so fun. I'm really happy that
I got to join it. In the lastyear of grade 12, I made so many
friends that I value so muchand will always value so much. And
just the experience ofthrowing myself there on stage with
(10:38):
my crewmates was justimpeccable and amazing. This was
also not the first time I didthat. I danced for around 10 years
when I was growing up at adance school called Randolph. I did
jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop,acro, triple threat, whole shebang.
(11:01):
So I've been in that space fora long time, but even then, I was
pretty scared. But I was a lotless scared because no one in my
school really knew I was doingit. I was kind of just doing it.
And also, it wasn't. When Itransferred to my high school Like
I went to the school for medschool and high school was an all
boys school. I kind of stoppedwhen I went into that school. Not
because of it, but because ofCOVID Covid hit when I entered grade
(11:22):
seven, which is when Itransferred to the school. It's called
St. Michael's called school,aka St. Mike's but yeah, I kind of
stopped doing it then becauseCovid stopped for a year and I kind
of just never went backbecause I was scared of how my peers
were gonna look at me. But Ialso did acting at this place called
YPT Young People's Theatersfor also 10 years where I just took
a bunch of acting classes.We'd do like a end of the year show
(11:45):
kind of thing. Nothing insane,but it was, it was cool. And so yeah,
third, I love Ma Yuan anddebating. Love it, love it, love
it. Pretty much all to saythere I was walking the hall one
day in grade seven and thisrandom grade 12 dude walked up to
me and said, yo you littlekit, do you like to debate and talk?
(12:07):
And I was like, yeah, I thinkso. He was like, alright, come in
here. And I thought I wasgetting kidnapped, but it's okay
because it was just my schoolhallway. And that's how I joined
them all. Un huge, huge, hugepart of who I am today. Not in just
the fact that like I like todebate, but also just in my confidence
as a public speaker, myconfidence to like put myself out
(12:29):
here in front of all you guys,my confidence to put myself out there
on the stage my musical, butalso just shaping my values as a
person because I became a lot,a lot, a lot more aware of the situation
of the world, how differentpeople experience life. Which is
(12:51):
just a really good thought butalso a terrifying thought. And so
yeah, it just made me moreaware of the world in general. There's
still definitely tons I haveto learn, but. But I would consider
myself somewhat aware of thesituation of the world and where
my moral compass lies kind ofthing. I also short note, I love
(13:15):
biology, which is why I'mhoping to become a doctor. I just
find it so cool. Oh, there's afire truck outside. That's not good.
Whoops. Anyways, I don't knowif you guys near that. Anyways, I
love biology because it justlike makes my head explode with questions
and I love it. I love watchinganime. That's my fourth one. Anime.
(13:42):
Don't troll me. Don't hang upthe episode right now. I promise
I'm not going to start doinganything crazy or abnormal. I Only
do that around my friends.Don't worry. Well, you guys are my
friends, but I only do thataround my close group of friends.
My girlfriend. Don't worry. Ican get really weird. But I love
anime. My favorite one isprobably One Piece, which people
(14:03):
criticize because it's toolong. It's like a thousand and something
episodes. I love it. I'mcaught up. But I watch a ton of anime
and Attack on Titan isprobably my favorite. Please go watch
Attack on Titan. Please. Ifyou know me in real life, you've
probably heard me say, gowatch Attack on Titan to youo. And
(14:26):
if I brought it up once toyou, I probably repeated it to your
face, like, every single day.So one more time, go watch Takhatang,
please. And lastly, I'll gowith the fifth. Or maybe that's the
sixth one. I don't know. Ilove listening to music. My favorite
artist is Kendrick Lamar,which I somehow got to be able to
see live because mygirlfriend's parents bought us tickets.
(14:49):
I love Tyler the creator, ZackBryan, country and the Beatles. That's
probably my favorite. And sothat's kind of like a maybe. Like
all my hobbies and interestscan kind of give you a better picture
of who I am, whether or notyou know me in real life, depending
how well you know me in reallife kind of thing. But I'm also
(15:15):
starting this podcast becauseI want to be a better person to those
in my life. And so, circlingback real quick, I talked about in
the beginning how I wasstruggling on finding a name for
the podcast and startingbecause everyone was like, oh, you
have to have a niche. You haveto have a niche. And I was like,
I'm not gonna sit here and yapabout anime all day. I'm not gonna
(15:37):
sit here and yap about, like,Molly un all day or camping or anything,
because I'm not like a. Notlike a camping God. But I came across
this one video where the ladysaid, don't wait so long to start
a podcast because you don'thave a niche to start yet. You are
(16:00):
your niche. And that just,like, blew my mind up. I was just
watching on YouTube and I waslike, okay, okay, you spitting? Because
I think I have a very. Well, Ihave a very unique life. But everyone
has a very unique life becauseevery life is unique. My life is.
My life is crazy. But relativeto a lot of other people, it might
(16:23):
not be that crazy. But it is.It is pretty crazy, I'd say. But
besides the craziness, justthe person I've shaped myself into
become now and the person Ienvision for myself and all of the
journeys that I'm not surewhich journeys I'm gonna have to
(16:43):
take to get there. I just knowthey're gonna be a lot of them and
they're gonna be a lot of funones. And so I was like, bang, that's
the niche. Draw embaga dramabaga is the niche. And so I'm trying
to keep it as open ended aspossible. Free to grow this podcast
is free to grow into whateverit can be, but I'm also free to grow
(17:06):
into whatever I would like tobe. And you guys are gonna be a part
of that journey. And hopefullyby listening to me, that can help
you in your journey intogrowing the person growing into the
person you would like tobecome. So I'm sure you will find
this podcast very, very, veryrelatable. Circling back now because
(17:28):
I often have a relationship ortrait that's relatable to a lot of
other people, meaning I'vebeen a child, but I've also been
in a parental role with someof my siblings, which is kind of
complicated to navigate. Iwouldn't say like a full parental
(17:50):
role, but like, there's aparental role of my siblings also
more a parental role ofmyself. So I've been a child and
I've also been acting somewhatas a parent. I've been a brother
because I have four oldersiblings, two sisters, two brothers.
Love them to death. They areamazing, amazing, amazing, amazing
people. And I've been a goodsibling to them and I've been a bad
(18:16):
sibling to them. There's a lotof room for improvement there, but
they're still amazing and Ithink I'm pretty okay. I've been
like a full sibling becausetwo of them, my siblings, I'm full
siblings with them. They're mybrothers. I don't even know what
the word is for it. It's alsoconfusing. Like the difference between
half and step, I don't evenknow. But I've been there too. I've
(18:38):
been an exemplary child whereparents like, oh my gosh, look at
drawing me. So amazing. Andthen I've also been like the absolute
worst parents nightmare. Ifyou were to ask my mom or maybe my
dad. I've been a goodboyfriend to my girlfriend and I've
been a bad boyfriend. I'vebeen. I've not. I'm not saying me
personally, but I've livedlifestyles that I would say are rich
(19:01):
due to me living with somefriends that are wealthily inclined
I've been very rich and I'vealso been very poor. I've been homeless,
I've been starving. I've beenlike, just like, like poor, very
poor. I've been the smart kidin class and I've also been the class
clown or the dumb kid.Sometimes those are different. I've
(19:25):
been very introverted inpoints of my life and I've been very
extroverted in points of mylife. I've been a people pleaser
and I've been a bully. I'vebeen happy go lucky kind of dude
and I've been insanelydepressed in points of my life and
so I. Oh yeah, I've also beena very non athletic person and recently
(19:48):
now I've been somewhat of anathletic person. So you get what
I'm saying. I just have a lotof different traits, either right
now or in different points inmy life that aren't too far off from
now that are relatable to alot of different type of people.
So I'm not necessarily gearingthis to one specific person or demographic.
I'm kind of gearing it toeverybody. I want it to be people
(20:09):
my age. I want to be theirparents. I want to be my old teachers.
My teachers next to you, likeanybody who wants to listen. Males,
females, whatever, I don'tcare. Because we are all free to
grow into whatever we wouldlike to be. And so that's what I
hope this podcast to be.However, among all those traits and
(20:35):
relationships and lifepositions that I just listed, people
have often told me sometimesthat there is something special about
me. And I do not mean that inany cocky way whatsoever. And I can't
mean that in any cocky waybecause I don't know what it is.
(20:58):
I have no clue what it is. AndI promise you I'm not trying to be
cocky at all. I think. Andeveryone is special and I always
try to be, see like the bestin every single person I can meet
and all that kind of stuff.But I think I've come to know that
(21:18):
when someone says that to me,I think all they mean is they can
see that I'm in pursuit ofsomething. I have this kind of. I
wasn't aware that I show itout loud, but I have this sense to
me that I'm kind of alwaysmoving and sometimes that can be
a bad thing, sometimes thatcan be a good thing, that could be
a bad thing because I'm usedto always moving in kind of like
(21:39):
a fight or survive kind ofthing. But I think it's starting
to positively translate intomoving towards my goals and chasing
a better version of myselfconstantly. And so I narrowed it
down to a very, very, verydark point in my life. So before
(22:03):
I say that, people are like,okay, well, yeah, you're in the pursuit
of something. Everyone's inthe pursuit of something. Everyone
has, like, some big goal.Okay. But then I was thinking, okay,
to narrow it down to what itis, I have to find out where it started.
People are like, oh, theystart when you're born. Eh, wrong.
My birth started weird rightoff the bat because before I was
(22:27):
even born, my dad, very baddude, tried to convince my mom to
have an abortion. And she didnot accept it for a long time. And
then eventually she did. Andyou must be thinking, well, she got
(22:48):
an abortion. Jerome, how areyou here? What? This doesn't make
sense. The math is not mattingup. Well, that is because it failed.
And so it failed. And here youare listening to some random Dudes
podcast in 2025. So that'swhere I started off from. And I just
(23:08):
lived, like, a life ofextreme, I'd say depression and confusion
because I. And I think I wasright to be, because I just didn't
know what the world was goingon. So throughout my childhood, I
moved around a ton. Like aton, a ton, a ton. All over the map.
(23:30):
But I found a home in myschool, and I'd say St. Michael's
College. School was definitelya huge part of my life that I'm forever
indebted for because I found ahuge, huge, huge community of people
that were so willing tosupport me and guide me throughout
my journey. They didn't evenknow my journey, a lot of them, but
so willing to guide me throughit, which is why I'm here today,
(23:54):
because I really, really,really loved that school. So it came
to a point where I think itwas grade nine, if I'm estimating
correctly. Grade nine? Yes.Grade nine. I want to say this is
grade nine. I think this wasJanuary. I don't know. I think it
(24:15):
was January. I think so. Grade9 January. Hong comes up to me and
she's like, yeah, me and yourdad are getting a divorce. They had
been divorced from, like,like, like, like, the marriage was,
like, over from before I waseven born, really. But he was still
living in the house, and therewas just so much stuff. Stuff going
on where it's just like, howdid that last, like, 10 years? Or,
(24:36):
like, how are you, like, middivorce for 10 years and still living
in the same house and still,like, I don't know, whole shebangal
anyways. And she was like,yeah, we're gonna have to move. And
I was like, hell, no. That waslike the worst sentence I could ever
hear ever. Because everywhereI moved, I still went to the same
(24:56):
school. So I was like, no, Ican't lose my school. I can't lose
my friends. I can't losescience class, I can't lose biology.
I can't lose Mal Un. I can'tlose, like, the music program at
the school. And that wouldeven sometimes, like, potentially
mean I was going to lose mycamp too. And I was like, no, I can't.
That's like. That was the onlything I had going, the only thing
(25:21):
that was keeping me up. And sowe went to the town. Town's called
Coburg. It's in Ontario,Canada. If you live in Coburg, I'm
sorry if this offends you. Ihope not. Hopefully you're a really
great person. But anyways,we're going to Coburg for an open
house for the school there. Iforgot the name. It's like, I don't
(25:41):
know, one of one schools inthe town or one of two. I don't know.
And I was the only blackperson there, and they were very
racist. I was walking in thehall and they were just, like, parting
like the Red Sea when I was inthere. I think for a lot of the children,
it was their first time seeinga black person ever. And just, like,
(26:02):
I'd hear comments like, I wasjust like, walking in the hall, just,
like, looking at the school,and they were like, oh, it smells
like fried chicken. I waslike, whoa, crazy out of left field
there. Whoa. And so I rememberleaving the open house and I was
like, wow. I thought maybe,like, maybe even if I was gonna move
it, would it be. It would beto somewhere that, like, I can maybe
(26:25):
start over maybe, or even,like, it'd be somewhat bearable.
But I was like, this. This isinfinitely worse. And so we left
the school and we went backto, like, this little house that
we were staying in. It waslike one of my mom's. I don't even
(26:47):
know. She was renting out,like, this, like, it's like a loft
kind of above a garage. It'slike an apartment above their garage.
And they live on a farm. Sobasically we're renting out attic,
kind of on a. On a farm.Really weird. Anyways, we went back
there after school showing,and I said, I'm gonna go on a walk.
(27:07):
Before I left, I went to thekitchen, which was Very small. This
place was very small. It wasan attic. Anyways, I went to the
kitchen and I took a knifefrom the drawer. Don't get too worked
up here because obviously I'mstill here. But anyways, I left and
I walked down this dirt roadin forest for a very long time until
(27:32):
I came upon. Until I walkedoff the dirt road into the forest,
like foliage. And I came tothis spot dead in the middle of the
forest. There was snow on theground. I remember it, I was freezing.
I had the knife in my hand andI was ready to commit suicide at
(27:53):
that moment. And that was avery, very, very dark place in my
life. I'd been in that darkplace for about a year, then maybe
even more. Well, I'd been inthat dark place for the entirety
of my life, but like reallydark for about a year there. But
(28:15):
I just couldn't bring myselfto do it. And thank God, thank God
I couldn't. And so I took theknife, poked one of my fingers. It
was this finger. I poked a dotin this finger so I could remember.
Took the knife and I chuckedit as far as I could. Watching. Before
(28:39):
all this happened, when I wasgoing to commit suicide, I just remember
crying, just like bawling onmy knees in the snow. No one was
there at all. Like this waslike a really, really, really remote
place around like this randomforest. And I'm just crying and crying
and crying. But I couldn'tbecause what glimpsed in my mind
(29:03):
was my school. St. Michael'scalled school. And the teachers I
had there and the clubs andactivities I had there. And so I
just couldn't. And so I threwthe knife into the forest and I made
my way back and here we are.After that, I basically moved out
of my mom's place. I was like,well, screw this, I'm not moving
(29:25):
here. I texted one of myfriends, I won't say his name because
maybe he wants his ownprivacy, texted one of my friends.
And I was like, yo, this israndom, but can I live with you?
He texted me back later thatday. He was like, yo, I'm announce
my parents I move in with himfor a year. A lot of stuff happens
between that time and I'll getinto that later. But it was in that
(29:45):
moment when I was in theforest and I was crying on the ground,
about to kill myself, where Iwas fed up with. I was fed up with
being chained down with mylife situation. And I was. I was
fed up of being deprived fromthe life that I wanted. And The.
(30:09):
The passion I wanted to putinto my life and the kindness I wanted
to give, I was. I was just sofed up with it all that I knew it
couldn't be there. And so whatI'm in pursuit of is freedom. I'm
in pursuit of freedom. I'm inpursuit of freedom from everyday's
life challenges, the hugechallenges that life always throws
(30:33):
in front of me, and freedomfrom, like, my own negative human
side. I'd say that we allhave, but I think that's also just
part of being human. But I'malso trying to create and look for
freedom with my time, whetherthat be, like, hanging out with certain
people, investing in, like,hobbies that I enjoy and going places
(30:57):
that I enjoy, not working,like, a miserable job and anything
but that's kind ofunavoidable. Freedom with my money,
which means spending itresponsibly for myself, which I can
also share with you guys how Ido that and freedom with my emotions,
my freedom to give passion toeverything that I want to do and,
like, don't have to care abouthow everyone else is looking at me
(31:19):
or how I'm supposed to act as,like, a child or as a male or any
of that stuff kind of thing.And so I'm trying my best to do that
by having as many differenttypes of friends as possible so I
can expose myself to all thepossibilities of, like, who I can
become kind of thing, try asmany hobbies as I can, travel as
(31:44):
much as I can. I'm extremelybroke, so that one's kind of not
really there. It's a work inprogress, and I'm trying to stay
healthy, which is something Ihonestly want to improve on more.
I want to be consistent moreand living that YOLO life, however
cringe that sounds. This isyolo right now. I really only live
once, so there's no reason whyI shouldn't document it. I'm gonna
(32:09):
wrap up there, but thank youso much for tuning in to Free to
Grow. I'm sure this is gonnabe an amazing, amazing, amazing experience
for both of us. If you haveany requests of what you want an
episode to be, whether thatbe, like, a question from, like,
your own life, you can submitthat anonymously. I'm gonna set that
(32:33):
up. Or publicly. You can justDM me on Instagram, Jerome m' Baga
on Instagram, say, hey, thisis my situation, blah, blah, blah.
I can give advice for it, orif you just want me to, like, talk
about anything that's going onin the world or an interesting topic.
Anything you want to hear metalk about, shoot it to me. The DMs.
(32:54):
Drop a, follow, subscribe onwhatever platform you're on so that.
Or add it to your library orwhatever. Whatever platform you're
on, just save it, follow it,subscribe to it so that you can listen
to my episode next week onThursday. We're dropping every single
Thursday, so please tune inand then if you could. Little task
for you since I was so open, alittle trade off here. Send this
(33:18):
episode to two people that youthink would benefit it, benefit from
hearing it, or just people ingeneral, and maybe you can open them
to something new. Maybe I amterrified because I have no clue
what's coming next. I have somuch to improve on as a person that
(33:42):
I want to improve on. And I'ma little scared of how like people
are gonna view me for thispodcast if I'm gonna be so real,
but I'm not actually really.But there's always like a fair amount.
I don't think that fear willever go away completely because obviously
I'm posting this. But again,thank you so much for tuning in.
(34:02):
It means the absolute world tome. Shoot me some feedback if you
think it sounds great or good.Tell me to me in person. I don't
know. I'll catch you later.Thank you for being a part of my
journey and thank you forallowing me to be part of yours and
see you next Thursday. Thankyou crew. Bye.
Hello. I hope you guys are alldoing very well on this fine Thursday.
My name is Jerome Mbaga andwelcome to Free to Grow. This is
my new podcast, my very firstpodcast. And I'm really, really,
really excited to get to knowall of you, for you guys to get to
(00:26):
know me better and for this tojust be a really, really fun and
unique ride for both of us. Soa little bit of history on me. As
I said before, my name isJerome Mbaga. I recently just graduated
high school. I'm from Toronto,Canada, and now I'm uploading this
(00:47):
in July. So it's been about amonth since I've graduated high school.
I'm going to university nextyear for medical science. I'm hoping
to become a doctor. And sothat's kind of where I'm at right
now. I'm working over thesummer right now at a kids day camp,
which is super fun. SomethingI really, really, really enjoy. And
(01:10):
I have a lot of time on myhands. I have a lot of time on my
hands being in school with alot of the extracurriculars I did
and commitments I hadthroughout the year and just life
in general. I didn't have toomuch time to start a podcast, but
I've always, really, really,really wanted to start a podcast
(01:32):
because I've just always hadso much to say, like, so much to
say. I'm definitely,definitely a yapper. But I also,
I also loved havingconversations with my friends on
a variety of levels aboutabsolutely anything. Whether it's
just hearing about their day,what they are up to over the weekend,
(01:57):
what makes them happy, whatthey're sad about. Like, I've just
always been that, like, or atleast try to always been that friend
for those around me so theyfeel comfortable. They can always,
like, they always have someoneto go talk to. And I love it. I really
love being a listener. Andwhen I get to have those conversations,
like really nice, like latenight conversations with a friend
(02:17):
while we're like grabbingpizza, sitting on a curb or something,
or I'm just laying on thecouch on my phone with one of my
buddies, whether that's likeI'm sitting on the beach with my
girlfriend and we're justtalking, it's just like, that is
really what I live for. Orespecially around campfires, that's
really what I live for. So youcould tell I like talking. And so
that's why I'm here starting apodcast. And when I went about this
(02:43):
journey, I think I like, Ireally, really committed to starting
a Podcast now, in this pointin time, about two, three weeks ago,
I was really scared andconfused on what to call it because
I just had no clue where tostart. And I also didn't really have
(03:04):
a niche that I could like, yapon about every single week. I'm not
that into like one particularthing, which I think is something
I like, but also somethingthat I could see myself getting into
as well. So, yeah, that's whyI called it Free to Grow. I felt
that had like a lot of freedomin the decisions I of like what I
get to talk about. I felt thatit really encapsulates what I'm trying
(03:28):
to do. I'm just trying to growinto a better human and a better
person for those, the peoplein life around me. So basically I
love talking and I've alwaysfelt misunderstood in throughout
my life because I come from avery, very, very traumatic family
(03:50):
history and childhood. Soabout seven months ago, I ran away
from home. I emotionally hadleft my house, let's say some odd,
like 12 years ago, butphysically leaving my house and leaving
(04:13):
what was under the care of mymom happened seven months ago. It
was during school, rightaround my birthday. I was 16 years
old at the time. Now I'm 17,but I'm turning 18. But it was like
in October and that was very,very, very rough. I had no clue what
to do. I just knew somethinghad to change because it was coming
(04:37):
from a place where my homelife was really affecting my life
at school, which is like theworst end game for me ever. I just
wasn't eating at all becausethere wasn't food available. I just
wasn't coming back to a warm,welcoming space. And it was just,
it was a dangerous environmentto be in, let's put it that way.
(05:00):
And so you can tell that I'mone for making big leaps, big leaps
into something. And so it wasreally scary at first. There were
some nights where there wasn'ta place to stay for sure, but for
a majority of the nights, Ileaned on my friends, my closest
friends around me that havebeen my guiding support throughout
the entirety of me knowingthem. I slept at a lot of their houses
(05:25):
for extended periods of time,whether that be like one day or a
month, two months. And thenespecially she's also my friend,
but my girlfriend as well. Ileaned on her, I say the most. I
live with her, I live with mygirlfriend, which is, I feel like
every teenage relationship'sdream or maybe nightmare once they
(05:46):
really move in. But I've beenliving with my girlfriend for the
past, like, officially movedin in, like, February, but I was
in and out since, I want tosay, December. So let's just call
it. Let's. Let's call it sixmonths. I'm. No, I'm not smiling.
(06:10):
Let's just call it six orseven months. And I pushed through.
I was. I didn't really havethe time to start something like
this, like a podcast then,because I was just really scared
on how I'm gonna get to go touniversity, because I love learning.
And so that's where I was at.I was. I was terrified. But luckily,
(06:30):
I have amazing friends, anamazing girlfriend. This is like
a friend group I've been withfor years, and I've been dating my
girlfriend for coming up ontwo years in a month. Ish. And so,
yeah, that's a little bitabout me. I know that sounds like
a lot and definitely traumadumping, but that's literally what
a podcast is for, because it'smine. But I don't want this podcast
(06:55):
to necessarily be all serious.There definitely will be some times
where I will go into a topicand be like, whoa, I did not know
this about Jerome. Whether youknow me in real life or this is the
first time you're meeting me,but, yeah, there's just a lot of
stuff going on in my life allthe time. So let's move on to a bit
(07:16):
of a lighter topic and talkabout what makes me happy. So I'll
start off by listing somehobbies. I love my hobbies. I definitely
come from a crazy life, butsomehow through, like, an infinite
amount of people that havehelped me, whether it's through financial
(07:37):
aid, emotional support,physical support in my journey, it's
just, like, amazing. Anyways,I'm a huge camping dude, Canoe tripping
dude. I've been going to thisone camp called Camp Candelore. Best
camp in the world. If you're aparent, send your kids there. If
you're my age, work there nextsummer. If you are there right now.
(07:58):
Amazing. I'm jealous. Butamazing, amazing, amazing place.
And it's really my home. It'sdefinitely the place I've. It's definitely
the place I've been in thelongest because I've started going
to Camp Candleore when I was,I think, four or five, maybe six.
(08:19):
I don't know, four or five orsix. And I went back basically every
single summer since then. Ithink there was one or two summers
I missed since then, but fromfive or six years old until 16 years
old, I was at Camp Candelore.And it was spectacular. I just grew
so much as a person. I learnedto love outdoors, which I think is
(08:42):
a bit of a rarity amongst.Well, I wouldn't say now, but maybe
the next generation of kids.So I'm very happy that I learned
to, like, appreciate outdoorsand love it. It's, like, amazing.
Anyways, moving on. I lovecanoe trips and camping because I
get to be weird. I get to beoutside, and I get to be a part of
the team. And that's, like,everything I love. Next. I really
like singing, dancing, andacting. Some people know this. If
(09:07):
you look at my Instagram,you'll definitely figure that one
out because I have a lot ofposts of me, like, singing. I think
three or four, who knows?Anyways, I drowned my school's musical
this year. Footloose. Amazing.Would do it again a billion times
over. My music teacher, Mr.Oat, actually wanted me to join in,
(09:29):
like, grade, like, seven,grade eight. He was like, jerome,
join, Jerome, join. And I cannever really explain that. I just
never. I didn't have the timeto do that because I just. Life was
exploding in front of my face.Joining a musical and, like, committing
myself to hours of rehearsalevery single day, which is not a
possibility. But if I'm gonnabe more honest, I was scared. I was
(09:54):
very scared about how my peerswere going to look at me, inject
me as, like, kind of a theaterkid, which I probably am now. I'm
not, like, a super theaterkid. No disrespect to theater kids,
but I was really scared of howmy peers were gonna look at me and
kind of lose that, like, alphamale personality kind of thing. Like,
(10:16):
what's this dude doing jumpingand skipping around in a cowboy costume
on stage? But it was so fun.It was so fun. I'm really happy that
I got to join it. In the lastyear of grade 12, I made so many
friends that I value so muchand will always value so much. And
just the experience ofthrowing myself there on stage with
(10:38):
my crewmates was justimpeccable and amazing. This was
also not the first time I didthat. I danced for around 10 years
when I was growing up at adance school called Randolph. I did
jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop,acro, triple threat, whole shebang.
(11:01):
So I've been in that space fora long time, but even then, I was
pretty scared. But I was a lotless scared because no one in my
school really knew I was doingit. I was kind of just doing it.
And also, it wasn't. When Itransferred to my high school Like
I went to the school for medschool and high school was an all
boys school. I kind of stoppedwhen I went into that school. Not
because of it, but because ofCOVID Covid hit when I entered grade
(11:22):
seven, which is when Itransferred to the school. It's called
St. Michael's called school,aka St. Mike's but yeah, I kind of
stopped doing it then becauseCovid stopped for a year and I kind
of just never went backbecause I was scared of how my peers
were gonna look at me. But Ialso did acting at this place called
YPT Young People's Theatersfor also 10 years where I just took
a bunch of acting classes.We'd do like a end of the year show
(11:45):
kind of thing. Nothing insane,but it was, it was cool. And so yeah,
third, I love Ma Yuan anddebating. Love it, love it, love
it. Pretty much all to saythere I was walking the hall one
day in grade seven and thisrandom grade 12 dude walked up to
me and said, yo you littlekit, do you like to debate and talk?
(12:07):
And I was like, yeah, I thinkso. He was like, alright, come in
here. And I thought I wasgetting kidnapped, but it's okay
because it was just my schoolhallway. And that's how I joined
them all. Un huge, huge, hugepart of who I am today. Not in just
the fact that like I like todebate, but also just in my confidence
as a public speaker, myconfidence to like put myself out
(12:29):
here in front of all you guys,my confidence to put myself out there
on the stage my musical, butalso just shaping my values as a
person because I became a lot,a lot, a lot more aware of the situation
of the world, how differentpeople experience life. Which is
(12:51):
just a really good thought butalso a terrifying thought. And so
yeah, it just made me moreaware of the world in general. There's
still definitely tons I haveto learn, but. But I would consider
myself somewhat aware of thesituation of the world and where
my moral compass lies kind ofthing. I also short note, I love
(13:15):
biology, which is why I'mhoping to become a doctor. I just
find it so cool. Oh, there's afire truck outside. That's not good.
Whoops. Anyways, I don't knowif you guys near that. Anyways, I
love biology because it justlike makes my head explode with questions
and I love it. I love watchinganime. That's my fourth one. Anime.
(13:42):
Don't troll me. Don't hang upthe episode right now. I promise
I'm not going to start doinganything crazy or abnormal. I Only
do that around my friends.Don't worry. Well, you guys are my
friends, but I only do thataround my close group of friends.
My girlfriend. Don't worry. Ican get really weird. But I love
anime. My favorite one isprobably One Piece, which people
(14:03):
criticize because it's toolong. It's like a thousand and something
episodes. I love it. I'mcaught up. But I watch a ton of anime
and Attack on Titan isprobably my favorite. Please go watch
Attack on Titan. Please. Ifyou know me in real life, you've
probably heard me say, gowatch Attack on Titan to youo. And
(14:26):
if I brought it up once toyou, I probably repeated it to your
face, like, every single day.So one more time, go watch Takhatang,
please. And lastly, I'll gowith the fifth. Or maybe that's the
sixth one. I don't know. Ilove listening to music. My favorite
artist is Kendrick Lamar,which I somehow got to be able to
see live because mygirlfriend's parents bought us tickets.
(14:49):
I love Tyler the creator, ZackBryan, country and the Beatles. That's
probably my favorite. And sothat's kind of like a maybe. Like
all my hobbies and interestscan kind of give you a better picture
of who I am, whether or notyou know me in real life, depending
how well you know me in reallife kind of thing. But I'm also
(15:15):
starting this podcast becauseI want to be a better person to those
in my life. And so, circlingback real quick, I talked about in
the beginning how I wasstruggling on finding a name for
the podcast and startingbecause everyone was like, oh, you
have to have a niche. You haveto have a niche. And I was like,
I'm not gonna sit here and yapabout anime all day. I'm not gonna
(15:37):
sit here and yap about, like,Molly un all day or camping or anything,
because I'm not like a. Notlike a camping God. But I came across
this one video where the ladysaid, don't wait so long to start
a podcast because you don'thave a niche to start yet. You are
(16:00):
your niche. And that just,like, blew my mind up. I was just
watching on YouTube and I waslike, okay, okay, you spitting? Because
I think I have a very. Well, Ihave a very unique life. But everyone
has a very unique life becauseevery life is unique. My life is.
My life is crazy. But relativeto a lot of other people, it might
(16:23):
not be that crazy. But it is.It is pretty crazy, I'd say. But
besides the craziness, justthe person I've shaped myself into
become now and the person Ienvision for myself and all of the
journeys that I'm not surewhich journeys I'm gonna have to
(16:43):
take to get there. I just knowthey're gonna be a lot of them and
they're gonna be a lot of funones. And so I was like, bang, that's
the niche. Draw embaga dramabaga is the niche. And so I'm trying
to keep it as open ended aspossible. Free to grow this podcast
is free to grow into whateverit can be, but I'm also free to grow
(17:06):
into whatever I would like tobe. And you guys are gonna be a part
of that journey. And hopefullyby listening to me, that can help
you in your journey intogrowing the person growing into the
person you would like tobecome. So I'm sure you will find
this podcast very, very, veryrelatable. Circling back now because
(17:28):
I often have a relationship ortrait that's relatable to a lot of
other people, meaning I'vebeen a child, but I've also been
in a parental role with someof my siblings, which is kind of
complicated to navigate. Iwouldn't say like a full parental
(17:50):
role, but like, there's aparental role of my siblings also
more a parental role ofmyself. So I've been a child and
I've also been acting somewhatas a parent. I've been a brother
because I have four oldersiblings, two sisters, two brothers.
Love them to death. They areamazing, amazing, amazing, amazing
people. And I've been a goodsibling to them and I've been a bad
(18:16):
sibling to them. There's a lotof room for improvement there, but
they're still amazing and Ithink I'm pretty okay. I've been
like a full sibling becausetwo of them, my siblings, I'm full
siblings with them. They're mybrothers. I don't even know what
the word is for it. It's alsoconfusing. Like the difference between
half and step, I don't evenknow. But I've been there too. I've
(18:38):
been an exemplary child whereparents like, oh my gosh, look at
drawing me. So amazing. Andthen I've also been like the absolute
worst parents nightmare. Ifyou were to ask my mom or maybe my
dad. I've been a goodboyfriend to my girlfriend and I've
been a bad boyfriend. I'vebeen. I've not. I'm not saying me
personally, but I've livedlifestyles that I would say are rich
(19:01):
due to me living with somefriends that are wealthily inclined
I've been very rich and I'vealso been very poor. I've been homeless,
I've been starving. I've beenlike, just like, like poor, very
poor. I've been the smart kidin class and I've also been the class
clown or the dumb kid.Sometimes those are different. I've
(19:25):
been very introverted inpoints of my life and I've been very
extroverted in points of mylife. I've been a people pleaser
and I've been a bully. I'vebeen happy go lucky kind of dude
and I've been insanelydepressed in points of my life and
so I. Oh yeah, I've also beena very non athletic person and recently
(19:48):
now I've been somewhat of anathletic person. So you get what
I'm saying. I just have a lotof different traits, either right
now or in different points inmy life that aren't too far off from
now that are relatable to alot of different type of people.
So I'm not necessarily gearingthis to one specific person or demographic.
I'm kind of gearing it toeverybody. I want it to be people
(20:09):
my age. I want to be theirparents. I want to be my old teachers.
My teachers next to you, likeanybody who wants to listen. Males,
females, whatever, I don'tcare. Because we are all free to
grow into whatever we wouldlike to be. And so that's what I
hope this podcast to be.However, among all those traits and
(20:35):
relationships and lifepositions that I just listed, people
have often told me sometimesthat there is something special about
me. And I do not mean that inany cocky way whatsoever. And I can't
mean that in any cocky waybecause I don't know what it is.
(20:58):
I have no clue what it is. AndI promise you I'm not trying to be
cocky at all. I think. Andeveryone is special and I always
try to be, see like the bestin every single person I can meet
and all that kind of stuff.But I think I've come to know that
(21:18):
when someone says that to me,I think all they mean is they can
see that I'm in pursuit ofsomething. I have this kind of. I
wasn't aware that I show itout loud, but I have this sense to
me that I'm kind of alwaysmoving and sometimes that can be
a bad thing, sometimes thatcan be a good thing, that could be
a bad thing because I'm usedto always moving in kind of like
(21:39):
a fight or survive kind ofthing. But I think it's starting
to positively translate intomoving towards my goals and chasing
a better version of myselfconstantly. And so I narrowed it
down to a very, very, verydark point in my life. So before
(22:03):
I say that, people are like,okay, well, yeah, you're in the pursuit
of something. Everyone's inthe pursuit of something. Everyone
has, like, some big goal.Okay. But then I was thinking, okay,
to narrow it down to what itis, I have to find out where it started.
People are like, oh, theystart when you're born. Eh, wrong.
My birth started weird rightoff the bat because before I was
(22:27):
even born, my dad, very baddude, tried to convince my mom to
have an abortion. And she didnot accept it for a long time. And
then eventually she did. Andyou must be thinking, well, she got
(22:48):
an abortion. Jerome, how areyou here? What? This doesn't make
sense. The math is not mattingup. Well, that is because it failed.
And so it failed. And here youare listening to some random Dudes
podcast in 2025. So that'swhere I started off from. And I just
(23:08):
lived, like, a life ofextreme, I'd say depression and confusion
because I. And I think I wasright to be, because I just didn't
know what the world was goingon. So throughout my childhood, I
moved around a ton. Like aton, a ton, a ton. All over the map.
(23:30):
But I found a home in myschool, and I'd say St. Michael's
College. School was definitelya huge part of my life that I'm forever
indebted for because I found ahuge, huge, huge community of people
that were so willing tosupport me and guide me throughout
my journey. They didn't evenknow my journey, a lot of them, but
so willing to guide me throughit, which is why I'm here today,
(23:54):
because I really, really,really loved that school. So it came
to a point where I think itwas grade nine, if I'm estimating
correctly. Grade nine? Yes.Grade nine. I want to say this is
grade nine. I think this wasJanuary. I don't know. I think it
(24:15):
was January. I think so. Grade9 January. Hong comes up to me and
she's like, yeah, me and yourdad are getting a divorce. They had
been divorced from, like,like, like, like, the marriage was,
like, over from before I waseven born, really. But he was still
living in the house, and therewas just so much stuff. Stuff going
on where it's just like, howdid that last, like, 10 years? Or,
(24:36):
like, how are you, like, middivorce for 10 years and still living
in the same house and still,like, I don't know, whole shebangal
anyways. And she was like,yeah, we're gonna have to move. And
I was like, hell, no. That waslike the worst sentence I could ever
hear ever. Because everywhereI moved, I still went to the same
(24:56):
school. So I was like, no, Ican't lose my school. I can't lose
my friends. I can't losescience class, I can't lose biology.
I can't lose Mal Un. I can'tlose, like, the music program at
the school. And that wouldeven sometimes, like, potentially
mean I was going to lose mycamp too. And I was like, no, I can't.
That's like. That was the onlything I had going, the only thing
(25:21):
that was keeping me up. And sowe went to the town. Town's called
Coburg. It's in Ontario,Canada. If you live in Coburg, I'm
sorry if this offends you. Ihope not. Hopefully you're a really
great person. But anyways,we're going to Coburg for an open
house for the school there. Iforgot the name. It's like, I don't
(25:41):
know, one of one schools inthe town or one of two. I don't know.
And I was the only blackperson there, and they were very
racist. I was walking in thehall and they were just, like, parting
like the Red Sea when I was inthere. I think for a lot of the children,
it was their first time seeinga black person ever. And just, like,
(26:02):
I'd hear comments like, I wasjust like, walking in the hall, just,
like, looking at the school,and they were like, oh, it smells
like fried chicken. I waslike, whoa, crazy out of left field
there. Whoa. And so I rememberleaving the open house and I was
like, wow. I thought maybe,like, maybe even if I was gonna move
it, would it be. It would beto somewhere that, like, I can maybe
(26:25):
start over maybe, or even,like, it'd be somewhat bearable.
But I was like, this. This isinfinitely worse. And so we left
the school and we went backto, like, this little house that
we were staying in. It waslike one of my mom's. I don't even
(26:47):
know. She was renting out,like, this, like, it's like a loft
kind of above a garage. It'slike an apartment above their garage.
And they live on a farm. Sobasically we're renting out attic,
kind of on a. On a farm.Really weird. Anyways, we went back
there after school showing,and I said, I'm gonna go on a walk.
(27:07):
Before I left, I went to thekitchen, which was Very small. This
place was very small. It wasan attic. Anyways, I went to the
kitchen and I took a knifefrom the drawer. Don't get too worked
up here because obviously I'mstill here. But anyways, I left and
I walked down this dirt roadin forest for a very long time until
(27:32):
I came upon. Until I walkedoff the dirt road into the forest,
like foliage. And I came tothis spot dead in the middle of the
forest. There was snow on theground. I remember it, I was freezing.
I had the knife in my hand andI was ready to commit suicide at
(27:53):
that moment. And that was avery, very, very dark place in my
life. I'd been in that darkplace for about a year, then maybe
even more. Well, I'd been inthat dark place for the entirety
of my life, but like reallydark for about a year there. But
(28:15):
I just couldn't bring myselfto do it. And thank God, thank God
I couldn't. And so I took theknife, poked one of my fingers. It
was this finger. I poked a dotin this finger so I could remember.
Took the knife and I chuckedit as far as I could. Watching. Before
(28:39):
all this happened, when I wasgoing to commit suicide, I just remember
crying, just like bawling onmy knees in the snow. No one was
there at all. Like this waslike a really, really, really remote
place around like this randomforest. And I'm just crying and crying
and crying. But I couldn'tbecause what glimpsed in my mind
(29:03):
was my school. St. Michael'scalled school. And the teachers I
had there and the clubs andactivities I had there. And so I
just couldn't. And so I threwthe knife into the forest and I made
my way back and here we are.After that, I basically moved out
of my mom's place. I was like,well, screw this, I'm not moving
(29:25):
here. I texted one of myfriends, I won't say his name because
maybe he wants his ownprivacy, texted one of my friends.
And I was like, yo, this israndom, but can I live with you?
He texted me back later thatday. He was like, yo, I'm announce
my parents I move in with himfor a year. A lot of stuff happens
between that time and I'll getinto that later. But it was in that
(29:45):
moment when I was in theforest and I was crying on the ground,
about to kill myself, where Iwas fed up with. I was fed up with
being chained down with mylife situation. And I was. I was
fed up of being deprived fromthe life that I wanted. And The.
(30:09):
The passion I wanted to putinto my life and the kindness I wanted
to give, I was. I was just sofed up with it all that I knew it
couldn't be there. And so whatI'm in pursuit of is freedom. I'm
in pursuit of freedom. I'm inpursuit of freedom from everyday's
life challenges, the hugechallenges that life always throws
(30:33):
in front of me, and freedomfrom, like, my own negative human
side. I'd say that we allhave, but I think that's also just
part of being human. But I'malso trying to create and look for
freedom with my time, whetherthat be, like, hanging out with certain
people, investing in, like,hobbies that I enjoy and going places
(30:57):
that I enjoy, not working,like, a miserable job and anything
but that's kind ofunavoidable. Freedom with my money,
which means spending itresponsibly for myself, which I can
also share with you guys how Ido that and freedom with my emotions,
my freedom to give passion toeverything that I want to do and,
like, don't have to care abouthow everyone else is looking at me
(31:19):
or how I'm supposed to act as,like, a child or as a male or any
of that stuff kind of thing.And so I'm trying my best to do that
by having as many differenttypes of friends as possible so I
can expose myself to all thepossibilities of, like, who I can
become kind of thing, try asmany hobbies as I can, travel as
(31:44):
much as I can. I'm extremelybroke, so that one's kind of not
really there. It's a work inprogress, and I'm trying to stay
healthy, which is something Ihonestly want to improve on more.
I want to be consistent moreand living that YOLO life, however
cringe that sounds. This isyolo right now. I really only live
once, so there's no reason whyI shouldn't document it. I'm gonna
(32:09):
wrap up there, but thank youso much for tuning in to Free to
Grow. I'm sure this is gonnabe an amazing, amazing, amazing experience
for both of us. If you haveany requests of what you want an
episode to be, whether thatbe, like, a question from, like,
your own life, you can submitthat anonymously. I'm gonna set that
(32:33):
up. Or publicly. You can justDM me on Instagram, Jerome m' Baga
on Instagram, say, hey, thisis my situation, blah, blah, blah.
I can give advice for it, orif you just want me to, like, talk
about anything that's going onin the world or an interesting topic.
Anything you want to hear metalk about, shoot it to me. The DMs.
(32:54):
Drop a, follow, subscribe onwhatever platform you're on so that.
Or add it to your library orwhatever. Whatever platform you're
on, just save it, follow it,subscribe to it so that you can listen
to my episode next week onThursday. We're dropping every single
Thursday, so please tune inand then if you could. Little task
for you since I was so open, alittle trade off here. Send this
(33:18):
episode to two people that youthink would benefit it, benefit from
hearing it, or just people ingeneral, and maybe you can open them
to something new. Maybe I amterrified because I have no clue
what's coming next. I have somuch to improve on as a person that
(33:42):
I want to improve on. And I'ma little scared of how like people
are gonna view me for thispodcast if I'm gonna be so real,
but I'm not actually really.But there's always like a fair amount.
I don't think that fear willever go away completely because obviously
I'm posting this. But again,thank you so much for tuning in.
(34:02):
It means the absolute world tome. Shoot me some feedback if you
think it sounds great or good.Tell me to me in person. I don't
know. I'll catch you later.Thank you for being a part of my
journey and thank you forallowing me to be part of yours and
see you next Thursday. Thankyou crew. Bye.
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