We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tyler Garrett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tyler below.

Tyler, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I definitely wished I would’ve started my creative career much earlier. I loved to draw when I was younger, I would look at pictures and draw a copy without tracing, usually portraits. In retrospect, I was actually very good, much better than I am now. But when I got into middle school the comparison dilemma started to really affect me. There seemed to be so many people who were better than me. I remember one girl specifically and she is still an amazing artist, yet once I saw her work I did not think mine was good at all. I still continued to draw though, not at all as much as I used to, but my best friends boyfriend of the time was a really good artist as well and I asked for his advice on my work and he helped me make some corrections. He encouraged me to keep going, but I became really self-conscious about my art and my skill that I didn’t draw as much. Eventually, I convinced myself that it didn’t matter if I could draw or not because I could not make a living from it, so what’s the point. So I stopped drawing when I was 14 years old, I still took art classes in school and still enjoyed it but I didn’t do it as a hobby.

Fast forward to about age 29, I was hanging out with a friend who paints and I was inspired by his passion to do something creative. He let me paint with him and I loved every minute of it, it was therapeutic for me. Around this time I was getting really involved in photography too, and was learning from my mentor how to turn a normal photo into a beautiful piece of art. I had all this passion building up inside me, but I still was having such a huge creative blockage. I’m a person who believes that there are metaphysical causes for certain ailments/illnesses and I believed this even more after my large fibroid removal surgery in 2021. I had a 5 pound, 18 cm fibroid growing inside me for who knows how long. Although there isn’t much information on where fibroids come from (mostly just info on how they grow), but metaphysically it is said that they come from creativity that was never given the chance to grow. I was not aware of this until a few days after my surgery. I had a surge of creativity come to me and I could not stop creating, and now in 2023, I continue to have tons of creative ideas where I have to constantly take notes and keep a notebook with me to write these ideas down. I truly love it, art and just creating in general has been the biggest comfort for me, and a huge contributor in healing me not just physically but spiritually and mentally as well.

So when it comes to the question of starting sooner or later, I definitely would say sooner because it’s sad to know that I let my insecurities block me from this joy for so long. However, I do believe that I went through everything I needed to go through to become who I am for my own good. The process may have been hard but every bit worth it and I am just completely grateful that God helped me find this joy again.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In 2017, I was struggling with depression and an early mid-life crisis (although I was only 27). This state forced me to begin a journey of transformation. I wanted to grow into the best version of myself and discover what brings me true “joi”. Thus, the concept of my brand Finding My Joi was birthed.

Finding My Joi started as a podcast where I shared my life experiences in hopes to help others going through the same struggles. Along this journey I discovered my true passion for God, helping others, art, and photography.

I previously expressed how my art journey began, ended, then re-blossomed so I will not put you through all that again. I am not currently a full-time creative and I am very much in the early stages of getting there. Yet I remain confident that this will become a reality for me soon. So at this time I create to release all emotions and I create to bring “joi” or comfort to whoever resonates with my work. I just let the creativity flow through and out of me in whatever way it manifests. I am just blessed and happy to be free from the bondage of my previously low self-esteem.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The drive behind my creative journey is truly God. I would not have these gifts, this passion, or the mind to do any of this without Him. I strive to show Him my commitment and gratitude by using the gifts He has given me for His purpose. I do not know what His purpose may be for me yet, but I know that it requires me to use my creative gifts. And so that’s what keeps me going, I let Him guide me as I get closer to Him and get stronger in my creative abilities.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I’ve had to unlearn is that there is not one set way or timeline to being happy and successful. We grow up, well I grew up with the ideology that you go to school, go to college, then get a standard blue- or white-collar job, then retire. This was the conventional way to a “good’ life. I had a hard time following this timeline, I really tried. I did really well in school, and I went to community college but that’s where it started to get harder to follow the standard. I changed majors a lot because I was struggling to find something I wanted to do long term. While I was in college, I worked several jobs to take care of myself. Since, I did not have a degree it became harder to get a job that covered my expenses so that really pushed me to try and get a degree. Yet, working so many different jobs that did not make me feel fulfilled, led me to switch my major many different times. It was not until after my fibroid surgery that I discovered what type of work would really make me happy. This led to me shedding the conventional way of living. I realized that I am able to live a “good” life doing work that I believe helps others and allows me to be free creatively. Before this did not seem real. I mean I knew that it was possible to make a living as an artist and in other creative fields, but there was always this societal view that only really great and insanely talented artist could make a living this way. I did not think I could live up to this standard. Even now I do not believe I am an “insanely” talented artist, but art is subjective and as long as I am doing what He says to do, all things are possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.FindingMyJoi.com
• Instagram: @FindingMyJoi
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/FindingMyJoi
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@findingmyjoi