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What did you want to be when you grew up?

Not what your parents wanted. Not what made practical sense. What did YOU want — in the quiet of your own imagination, before the world had opinions about it, before the bills arrived, before life got real?

That question hits completely different at 50-plus. Because now you have the receipts. You can look back at that younger version of yourself and actually see what he was reaching for. And then look at where you are today and ask honestly — how close did I get?

In the Season 1 finale of Man, Listen, Jamey Mixson goes all the way back to the beginning. To the kid. To the dream. And what he finds there is equal parts funny, honest, and surprisingly powerful.

Those childhood dreams were not random. They were not naive. They were data — telling you the truth about yourself before the world started editing you. The kid who wanted to be a fireman wanted to run toward the fire when everyone else ran away. The kid who wanted to be an athlete wanted excellence and the clarity of competition. The kid who wanted to be on stage wanted to be seen, to move people, to exist loudly in a world that sometimes made him feel small.

Jamey wanted to be Gary Coleman. Yes, that Gary Coleman. The Hollywood dream was real — and it led to some genuinely remarkable places, including a role as a Klingon on Star Trek, supporting cast on the legendary ER, and pickup basketball games on the lot with George Clooney, Eric LaSalle, and Ice Cube. The funest times. To this day Jamey believes Idris Elba is living his life.

But there was another dream too. The one that makes parents proud. Jamey wanted to be a medical doctor — an obstetrician, because no easy routes. He got the Chemistry degree. He became an EMT. And then, with nobody pushing and nobody insisting, he didn't finish medical school. He names that honestly. A life regret held without bitterness is still wisdom.

This episode also gets real about the parent variable — the difference a navigator makes in a young person's life, and what it means to accept what your parents couldn't give you while making sure the people behind you don't face the same gap.

And then comes the turn that makes this episode a Season 1 finale worthy of the name. When Jamey stepped into fitness professionally, something clicked. And one day he looked back at that tall kid with the long legs and the really short shorts and realized — he was doing all of those things. The performance. The science. The stage. The healing. The dreams didn't die. They got a new address.

Whatever your childhood dream was — look underneath it. The current version of your life may already be living it in disguise. And for the things that are still unfinished? It is not too late.

Season 1 is done. Season 2 is coming. And the best chapter hasn't been written yet.

Man, Listen is a weekly solo podcast hosted by Jamey Mixson — entrepreneur, fitness studio owner, and Black man living boldly after 50. New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

Man, Listen is written and recorded by host Jamey Mixson, Fitness Professional, entrepreneur, and your everyday awesome guy who is living as proof that 55 can be your strongest, clearest, most powerful decade yet.

New Episodes Weekly. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and other podcast streaming services.

Contact: Instagram @theJamey, Facebook @Jameymixson, Email: mixsonfj@gmail.com

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WTF.

If you are over 50, you already know exactly what that means. Not the internet version. The lived experience version. The one where you wake up on a Tuesday, nothing unusual happened, and you are standing in your kitchen going — what is happening right now?

In Episode 11 of Man, Listen, Jamey goes there. All the way there. Because being in this age bracket unlocks a very specific set of curiosities, frustrations, and utter disbeliefs that nobody warned you about — and the only honest response is equal parts laughter, reflection, and a little bit of WTF.

Jamey covers it all across five segments that are as real as they are funny.

The body is sending memos. Mystery pains with no origin story. The new morning routine that starts with a full systems check before your feet hit the floor. Getting up off the ground is now an event — there is planning involved, there is an exit strategy. And yes, Jamey addresses the thing every man in this bracket has either experienced, feared, or Googled at 2am. Briefly, directly, and with the dignity and humor it deserves.

The people in your life are going through it too. If there is a woman in your life navigating menopause, Jamey breaks down what your actual job is — and what it is not. Hint: the thermostat is no longer community property. And on the financial spectrum, some people made the plans and some people did not. For those looking at working until 94 — Jamey sincerely hopes they live to be 95. That is not a joke. That is the prayer.

The world keeps changing and nobody asked us. The generation coming up behind us is confusing — but Jamey applies the Gen X check immediately. We were not understood either. Our parents said the same things about us that we are tempted to say now. Curiosity over judgment is the move.

The playlist of our lives. Disco. Funk. Punk rock. Synthesized pop. Yacht rock — no apologies. And hip hop, born from necessity, that became the dominant cultural language of the entire planet. We were there for all of it. And Jamey celebrates then AND now, because music was never just entertainment. The format changed. The feeling did not.

The political weather report. Jamey is not picking sides. He is observing, questioning, and calling men back to the one thing Gen X was built for — thinking for themselves. The polarization is real. The weaponization of your outrage is also real. You are too wise to be somebody's instrument.

WTF is not a complaint. It is proof of life. A man who stopped asking WTF checked out a long time ago. You have not checked out. And that is everything.

Man, Listen is a weekly solo podcast hosted by Jamey Mixson — entrepreneur, fitness studio owner, and Black man living boldly after 50. New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

MUSIC Credits:

The Sun is in your eyes; by Yogic Beats. IG @yogicbeats email: yogicbeats@gmail.com

P.Y.T. remix; by Framax67 on YouTube email:af.ml.vincent@gmail.com

Man, Listen is written and recorded by host Jamey Mixson, Fitness Professional, entrepreneur, and your everyday awesome guy who is living as proof that 55 can be your strongest, clearest, most powerful decade yet.

New Episodes Weekly. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and other podcast streaming services.

Contact: Instagram @theJamey, Facebook @Jameymixson, Email: mixsonfj@gmail.com

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Somebody asked Jamey Mixson a simple question: What do your friends teach you? He had to stop. Because the answer was more complex, more personal, and more powerful than a quick response could hold.

In Episode 10 of Man, Listen, Jamey unpacks one of the most underexamined truths of midlife — your friendships have been a classroom your entire life, whether you signed up for the course or not. The lessons came through breakfast conversations, through watching someone handle adversity with grace, through watching someone else mishandle a Saturday night. You absorbed it all. Some of it you chose. A lot of it just happened. And at 50-plus, you finally have enough distance to look back and grade the courses.

Each One Teach One is a philosophy rooted in survival — born in slavery-era America, where learning to read was an obligation you passed on because knowledge was resistance. It evolved into a cornerstone of Black community philosophy: what you know, you share. Nobody rises alone. Today, Jamey applies that lens to friendship and asks a question most men have never considered — what is my circle actually teaching me?

Three friendship archetypes anchor this episode. The gem — the friend whose example of persistence, faith, and patience teaches more through observation than any conversation ever could. The cautionary classroom — the friend whose choices became a mirror, reflecting back exactly who Jamey refused to become and reinforcing that authenticity carries further than any performance. And the observer — the quiet one whose silence isn't absence, it's power, and whose presence changed how Jamey moves through every room.

Each story is kept universal. No names, no call-outs. Just honest reflection on what proximity to the right — and wrong — people actually does to a man over time.

And then Jamey flips the entire conversation around. Each One Teach One only works if you're also the one teaching. At this stage of life — established, still growing, still climbing — what is your circle learning from watching you live? Your life is a syllabus whether you wrote one or not.

This episode closes with a statement that captures where Man, Listen is headed: I've established who I am and what I do. Now it's about something bigger — sharing, growing, and being a good citizen of this earth.

Your circle is your curriculum. Choose your courses wisely.

Man, Listen is a weekly solo podcast hosted by Jamey Mixson — entrepreneur, fitness studio owner, and Black man living boldly after 50. New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

Man, Listen is written and recorded by host Jamey Mixson, Fitness Professional, entrepreneur, and your everyday awesome guy who is living as proof that 55 can be your strongest, clearest, most powerful decade yet.

New Episodes Weekly. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and other podcast streaming services.

Contact: Instagram @theJamey, Facebook @Jameymixson, Email: mixsonfj@gmail.com

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