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July 31, 2025 • 21 mins

Turning the pen to you, Jerome Mbaga invites listeners to reflect and question the current direction of their life. Faced with a terrifying philospical question, Jerome discusses the importance of grounding ones self to find stabilty in themselves, their life, and time.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
OK, what's up crew? I hope you guys had a really
good week. If this is your first time
tuning in, my name is Jerome Baga and this is my podcast for
you to grow. This week's episode is titled
What do you sorry? How do you intend to live your

(00:26):
life? I know that's a very big and
scary question, but I decided topose that question this episode
because I know in my first episode I talked a lot about
myself, but this podcast is equally yours as it is mine.

(00:50):
And so I wanted this episode to be a lot more geared towards you
rather than me. Before we dive into all that, I
can tell you guys a little bit about my week.
Since the last time we spoke, I I've spent a lot of my time at
work just 'cause that's where I spent a lot of my time, but I've

(01:14):
gotten up to some pretty fun things.
Me and my friends went to Jazz Fest.
Well not all my friends but me and some of my friends went to
Jazz Fest in the Beaches this weekend which was super fun.
We randomly strolled upon this like rave in a park that was

(01:35):
bumping and it was. It was a great time actually a
really busy weekend. But now I'm just like forgetting
everything I know with my girlfriend a lot which is really
fun. Went to dinner with some of our
family, which was also really fun.

(01:55):
I feel like I'm forgetting something very big.
I don't know what it is, just I feel like I'm forgetting
something very big. What did I do?
I don't know. Anyways, I also got to have a
conversation, like a group FaceTime with most of my
siblings over the weekend, whichwas really good because
something I'm personally trying to improve on is showing up as a

(02:18):
better sibling because sometimesit's hard when you all get older
and drift apart and stuff. So, yeah, yeah.
So that was it was good. It was good stuff.
And that was basically my week. That's where I'm at.
I played volleyball and yeah, that's where I'm at.

(02:40):
And so here we are, the second Thursday of the podcast, ready
to talk about the meaning of life or how you guys intend to
spend your life. Now, I got this question from
Donate on Me. I got this question from an
anime called Finland Saga. It's a very, very, very good

(03:05):
piece of fiction. I definitely recommend you guys
all go watch it. Basically, it's about the story
of a boy who lost his father when he was really young because
his father, like died in battle or whatever.
And then essentially he spends his entire youth filled with

(03:26):
like, rage and revenge, trying to hunt down the guy who killed
his father. And then he is forced to like,
let go of that rage and create alife of his own.
Which is definitely more dramatic than what my situation
is, but I think it's relatable to not just me, but to all of

(03:47):
you guys. Because I don't think it has to
be something as obvious or dramatic as revenge and blinding
anger. But I think there are a lot of
maybe negative or neutral emotions that pressure us
towards goals that we don't evenknow and sometimes we don't even

(04:10):
like. And sometimes this can look like
jealousy of our friends trying to fit in with said friends,
chasing a level of confidence that kind of comes out as like
an ego instead because we're trying to fix some of our
insecurities. You know, all that, all that

(04:31):
whole kind of vibe. Chasing something and then
reaching a turning point where you choose to turn away from
that goal, whether you've attained it and it maybe wasn't
didn't live up to your expectations or you didn't
attain it, but you just realizedsooner on that journey that
that's not what you wanted to do.

(04:53):
And so a big majority of the people listening to this podcast
are people around my age, I think the analytics said 18 to
24 or something like that. And so that's a pretty important
time in your life. I know people are always talking
about, oh, you've changed so much during high school.

(05:15):
You changed so much in university.
I feel like you changed so much during all parts of your life,
but these are especially big times.
And so I wanted to sit down and have a talk with you about where
you see yourself in a week. How is the version of you a week

(05:37):
later, next Thursday when I comeback and talk?
How is that version of you different?
Maybe that's because you have some really busy stuff coming up
this week and you know, maybe stressed maybe next time this
week, or maybe you have a very clear schedule and there is
something you want to work on. It doesn't have to be emotion
wise. Maybe it's just a skill or a

(05:58):
sport or hanging out with some certain people that you want to
hang out with that will change you in some shape or form
because you will be different next Thursday.
Every single moment that we livein, every single memory that we
create shapes us second by second.
We change as people. And so I'll ask you, how will

(06:20):
you be different next Thursday? I'll start next Thursday.
I hope to be this one's going tosound silly, but next Thursday I
hope to be a more a little bit more organized person.

(06:40):
I'm pretty organized most of thetime, but I'm also really good
at procrastinating, which I knowwill come and hit me like a
truck when I get to uni. But especially during the summer
when things are more relaxed, sometimes I tend to run late for

(07:00):
certain stuff or forget to text certain people back and just
lots of stuff that I I should beon top of.
And so that's how I want to showup next Thursday.
Person that's just a little bit more organized.
I'm not chasing perfection because I know I will never
reach perfection because, you know, jealousy is the thief of

(07:24):
joy or whatever. And you can, I can also be
jealous of like a future versionof myself.
Anyways, I hope to be a little bit more organized.
So I hope from hearing my goal for next Thursday that maybe can
invite you to think about how you want to show next Thursday.
So I'll just give you a couple of seconds to think about that.

(07:50):
Sounds good. You can keep that in your own
head or you can shoot that to meover Instagram.
And yeah, we can talk about it. And yeah, up to you guys.
But anyways, when we're thinkingabout how we want to live our

(08:10):
life, I, I did the activity because I feel that we often
jump so far ahead into like where we want to be a year from
now, You know, like those New Year's resolution type of goals.
And I've never really been a bigfan of New Year's resolution
type of goals because I feel like it's kind of just like a

(08:35):
point in time where everyone feels like they have to have a
goal. And I feel like a goal which is
always be more attainable if it's something you just chose to
put out there in any point in time.
Anyways, I'm rambling. Point is, don't let the presents
get past you. Time is moving very, very, very

(09:01):
quickly. I'm sure all of you guys know
that. But like looking at just right
now, we're basically halfway through the summer, if you might
even be listening to this on August 1st, where we will really
be halfway through the summer. And so maybe reflecting on the

(09:22):
past a little bit, how have you,how do you think you spent the
first half of your summer? Are you satisfied with it?
Do you wish you could have done more?
And once you've acknowledged that, don't dwell on it too
much. Don't get sad about it.
Or if you're happy about it, amazing.
Just take the lessons you've learned from the first half of
your summer and apply it to the second-half of your summer day

(09:46):
by day. And so that's what it's really
all about. But moving on from that topic, I
would like to focus on not necessarily your end goal type
of person, like this hero, this hero version you have of

(10:08):
yourself in your head that's like you and you're like, I
don't know, 20-30, forty years from now, but rather the
important piece of yourself thatyou need to keep along that
journey. And So what I call it, well, not

(10:29):
what I call it, like the way to put it is it's called your
center. I think a very, very, very smart
way to navigate through life is creating and finding your
center. And for many people that can be
many different things. There's not to be one thing, it
can be multiple things. And it helps you stay steady in

(10:51):
times when you're not sure of where you're going to be next
week, what state you're going tobe in next week.
If you're maybe not feeling steady with the people you have
in your life around you, whetherthat be romantic relationship,
your friends, your family, teachers, anything, anything

(11:14):
going on in your life. And so for me, my center has
kind of been a combination of things, which I only really
found my center about two years ago or maybe a year ago.
I would say a big part of my center is the moral value of
kindness has a very, very, very big center of mine that helps me

(11:37):
stay grounded in whatever I'm doing, in whatever level of
certainty I'm doing, and also allows me to be confident about
it. Essentially, no matter how
unstable my situation is, I can roughly predict that if I act

(11:58):
with kindness, I will get to where I want to be.
And that's my assessment that I've created for my own life.
But it doesn't have to be something as happy, you know,
all that stuff as kindness. It could be a repetitive thing
that you do every week, whether that be eating breakfast.

(12:21):
Let's say you start a tradition for yourself where it's like
every Sunday or like every Monday.
Every one day of a week, you're just going to have a meal.
It's going to ground you. That's going to be your center
no matter what, no matter what fakeness in the world that's
pouring down on you from every direction.

(12:42):
You know you're going to have that one breakfast, let's say.
For other people, it's their sport that they play.
Some it's the gym some it's veryimportant people in their life
like their family or their friends.
For others it's music that they listen to.
For others, it's the shows that they watch, and so I can share

(13:03):
some of mine. First, I shared kindness.
Music is definitely a big one this month.
I'd say I've been listening to alot more Fleetwood Mac than I
really do because there's this song called Warm Ways by
Fleetwood Mac Guys, it's so good.
It's like the vibes are like when you get home and like

(13:27):
you're tired and you can't feel like relax.
It's a banger, put it on, put iton.
But finding good music has been my center recently because it
allows me to connect with my work a lot more.

(13:48):
And ever since I started this podcast, I think I've been in my
head more. Not like in a bad way, just like
been more introspective about all the things I do, especially
anything that is involved in anyform or medium of art, such as
music. And so I've been really into
Fleetwood Mac recently. I've been coming home from work

(14:11):
sometimes just really tired, putting on some Fleetwood Mac,
and it relaxes me a ton. I've got my shows that I watch.
I watch this one show called Blacklist.
It's really good. Netflix, go watch it.
And also this other show called One Piece that makes me really
happy. Yeah, I should also go watch it

(14:32):
every once a week. I also go play volleyball.
So that kind of grounds me in whatever I'm doing.
But the point I'm trying to makehere is that these centers can
sometimes feel superficial because a lot of them are.
A lot of them are things that you, they are not you.

(14:54):
They don't. They don't make up you.
And so when I'm saying center, Idon't.
I'm not trying to confuse it with a word soul here.
I'm just trying to give out the opportunity to have a repetitive
thing that you do every week or even every day that grounds you

(15:14):
in the calm of your storm. And so returning to our original
point, having this center allowsyou to be so much more confident
in everything you do. And I am not joking.
Like this is so true, even as something as silly or not even

(15:36):
silly, as simple as I'd rather say as eating the same breakfast
once every week. I'm not even joking.
You'll be very surprised how much it can change you,
especially when you're consciousabout it.
A lot of you might be thinking, well, I do eat this one cereal
every week, maybe every single day.

(15:58):
When you're conscious about it, it's different because you're
setting a time aside in your mind for just you.
And I invite you all to do that and text me about it and tell me
how it goes. And so when it's time for you to

(16:18):
think about how you want to liveyour life, and I'm not here to
tell you how to do that, I'm not, I will give you a little
bit of advice based on my life, but I don't know your life as
much as I do my own. And you know yours best.
Anyways, when it comes the time for you to be thinking about

(16:42):
your life, I want you to think back to your center and ask
yourself how the actions of yourday or week or any time period
have aligned with your center. Has your center been like a

(17:05):
place of calm in this giant storm, and maybe that's a sign
that you need some changes in your life?
Or has it maybe just been a small point of reflection and
everything in your life seems kind of steady?
That could be a good thing or a bad thing.
Maybe steady as if it's kind of boring and you just splice it up
a little. Maybe it's a good thing.
Maybe it's just an average levelof calmness and you've reached a

(17:28):
sense of peace where you're comfortable with and that's
great. And it's really great if you
did. And so I want to bring up on
this one point quote, quote, sorry, that I really like and
I've never said it and just saw it one day and I was like really
stuck with me. And it goes as nothing changes

(17:51):
if nothing changes. And a second quote I heard
online that goes along with thatone is what you're not changing,
you're choosing. And so those quotes are
basically mean the same thing. And I bring them in now because
I'm going to wrap up this episode now.

(18:13):
And so I want to leave you with these thoughts.
First, find your center. Ground yourself in your day or
your week. Just try it for one day, for one
week. Try it and come tell me or no,
keep it to yourself. Maybe you like it, maybe you
won't. Second, think about all the

(18:37):
things you're doing in your lifeand question if it's really what
you want to be doing, if it's making you happy, if it's making
you feel alive and not that you're just living and dragging
on through the world. Nothing changes.
If nothing changes, if you're not happy with your situation,

(18:59):
go change it. And you can do that a little bit
easier by grounding yourself in your center.
And then third, wow, that was a really good plugin.
Third, go to the link in my bio,send you a link this time, and

(19:19):
at the very top you'll see this button that you can click and it
will bring you to this form. It could be anonymous if you'd
like to put your name or your e-mail or any contact and shoot
me one thing. It could be about something
that's going on in your life that you would like me to give
advice about or talk about or just any random thought like

(19:42):
philosophical or just podcasty type thought that you want me to
talk about in my next episode. And I will definitely get to it.
As always, it was a really big pleasure talking to you guys.
I know there were things I left out pretty broad in this

(20:04):
episode, and that's because I want you guys to thinking about
it. Trust me, this podcast is going
to be going on for a very long time.
So we will definitely get into all of the nitty gritty, but
I'll leave you with this. It says any quote.
This is just top of my head. This is your life, deal with it,

(20:31):
what you want with it. And I really mean that.
This is your life. Deal with it as you want with
it. Stop doing things that don't
make you happy or some things are necessary.
Some things are like neutral like homework and going to work.
You can't really get out of those, but I'd say strive for
things that make you happy, strive for things that make you

(20:54):
feel free, and strive for thingsthat bring you back to that
center and feed your inner childbecause we all have that, no
matter what age you are listening to this or gender or
any background information at all.
So thanks for tuning in again onanother Thursday and I can't

(21:17):
wait to see you guys next Thursday.
Thanks so much crew. Bye bye.
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