Jim Carrey had a quote. He said, like, I wish
everyone in the world had all the fame and money
and accolades and understand that at the end
of the day, it won't make them happy. And man,
that is so correct. It's an okay thing to pursue
if that is honestly what you want to pursue.
If you want to pursue it because you think it's
going to lead you to some happiness at the end
of the day, you're incorrect. We have a great
guest today, Garrett Powell. America's sweetheart,
a candidate on Bachelorette. Can't wait to hear
his story of his rise and fall from grace and
his personal struggles. Thank you, Garrett. Thanks
for joining us. So happy to have you on the show.
Yeah, man. Thank you for having me. You know,
I don't know if you're aware. The reason for
the show is because my wife and I have also experienced
our own personal challenges with cancel culture.
Learning more about yourself and your own journey
resonates deeply with me because there's a lot
of self -questioning and wondering, you know,
did I do the wrong thing? Did I say the wrong
thing? And it's a process to work through that.
So I'm really happy to have you on the show because
I really want to hear how you were able to deal
with all that and how you emerged from all this
intact. Why don't you take us from the beginning?
How did you even get on this show in the first
place? What were you doing at the time? Why did
you agree to do it? And tell us about the format
of The Bachelorette. How does that actually work?
Yeah, I'll try to give you the somewhat quick
version. So this is back in 2018, August. No,
actually about this time, 2018, Labor Day. I
was dating a girl from Atlanta, and we were down
at the beach, and I was... The idea was we would
stay there for a few days. I had a golf tournament
in South Alabama later on, and I'd just go over
from the beach to South Alabama, or Florida to
South Alabama, and play that event. And she ended
up dumping me out of nowhere. I was devastated.
Got back home, and my sister -in -law, Jessalyn,
told me, hey, just want to let you know I filled
you out a profile on ABC's website for The Bachelorette.
I think it'd be funny. I think you'd be good
for it, but just want to let you know. Will you
just please promise me that if they call you,
will you try to get on? And I'm like, I'm still
like heartbroken at this point. I'm still trying
to figure out. She didn't tell me why she broke
up with me, of course, so my head's like just
in a wash. So I'm like, sure, whatever, Jessalyn,
they're not going to call me. At the time, I
was a golf professional in a club called Shoal
Creek in Alabama, deep south, old school country
club. They have caddies. They encourage caddies
more than golf cars. That tells you how old school
it is. So my job was day -to -day operations,
teaching, fitting, tournament operations as well.
So complete opposite end of the spectrum of like,
hey, I'm looking to be this social media personality
guy. You know, Lele, we talk on the show a lot
about how your online reputation can be used
against you. But what if you could take back
control? Guess what? What? Erase .com does exactly
that. Are you kidding me? They're an online reputation
management company that is fantastic. They allow
you or you to take back the power and not let
the digital world decide what is said about you.
You know, you bring up a good point. Don't let
your online past define your future. These folks,
they should call the experts at Erase .com because
they can help. Like they helped us? They sure
did. And because you listened to Erase, if you
just type in the promo code ERASED10, you will
receive 10 % off these amazing services that
help you take back your power. That's a great
deal. Reference promo code ERASED10. You can
get a 10 % discount off their services. I like
it. Do it now. Do it now. So fast forward to,
I believe it was October. i was playing a kickball
game and got we had a kickball league every thursday
it was like a one night to like have fun and
let her hair down and i got this call from a
number in la and i immediately chalked it up
as spam well i'm in a uber home on the way back
from the kickball game and i listened to a voicemail
from a recruiter named sandy saying that she
got our pro my profile thinks i'd be great for
it wants me to consider interviewing and so the
next day um i don't know how much you know about
private club professionals but we work uh 50
to 80 hour weeks sometimes 90 hour weeks depending
on which week it is what the membership has going
on you are there in support of the membership
so it's very demanding from a time perspective
um job so i go to my boss and our merchandiser
at the time and i play the voicemail in front
of both of them because honestly my boss was
having kind of a bad day and i thought it'd be
something funny i was kind of known as like the
uplifting like kind of goober dude and they both
started laughing my boss is like eric you have
to do it i'm like okay so like you know i could
be gone for months at a time if i do this he's
like i don't care we'll make it happen i'm like
okay all right so i went through the interview
process the next step in the process was they
wanted me to film a video while answering questions
that they sent me so i paid a cart kid a kid
who takes care of the golf carts 20 bucks to
film me play hole 11 at shoal creek and it's
super cringy and it's super awkward but at the
same time i guess it was something that they
like to see a little bit of realism if you will
they took me to atlanta for a face -to -face
interview then they flew me out a month later
this is january of 2019 to la for their like
final casting call if they will Um, and it was
just a meat grinder, man. Like so much stuff
they threw at you that you weren't expecting.
Like, I remember I walk up for like noon and
Sandy who recruited me from day one was there.
And she said, Hey, what do you want to drink?
I'm like, Sandy, it's noon. I don't really want
anything to drink. She's like, well, if you knew
what they're about to do to you, then I'm sure
you would want one. So I'm like, Oh, I'll take
a Jameson then please. And so they walked me
in this room. right before they're like hey there's
a bunch of people in this room just want you
to say hey to them well they walk in this room
and there's this couch of 30 to 40 producers
sitting in like a u -shape and there's one chair
right in the middle and they just like hammer
you with questions and like what like one was
uh do you consider yourself oh no the first one
was uh who in hollywood do you most resemble
and i said chris pratt and they're like why and
i said well honestly it's just the first guy
come to mind i'm big on my faith and i consider
myself kind of a jokester goober so i can see
that i guess they like that the second one which
i thought i answered great but apparently it
was hilarious they said do you consider yourself
to be romantic and i was like yeah well i've
been known to give a girl some flowers a time
or two and they all just busted out laughing
i'm like is that not what you were looking for
so there's that there's the psychological exams
and then there's like the constant waiting i
didn't know i was on until march 6th of 2019
And I had to leave for filming starting March
12th of 2019. And so, yeah, I basically just
didn't eat and was on the Stairmaster for all
six of those days for what it seems like. You
gave one week notice, I suppose. Yeah, yeah.
Well, thankfully, I was filming my boss with
everything that was going on. Like, hey, man,
this is the most I can tell you. You know me.
I have no idea what's going on. I'm just kind
of flying by the seat of my pants at this point.
So they were already kind of prepared. i ended
up being gone for 42 days and i came back i guess
i came back late april early may um and i was
just i look like i say i look like tom cruise
from castaway i had this beard i was bloodshot
eyed just like no sleep was not prepared for
what was coming and that was the events leading
up to all the social media mayhem of 2019 2020
2021. so when the show had wrapped Had any episodes
aired yet at that point? No episodes aired. I
think they aired like two weeks later. But there
were these like spoiler pages that already had
like their insights on like who the bad dudes
were and all this stuff too. So it was just like
a big storm. I didn't know it was coming. But
from a good perspective and a bad perspective,
if that can make sense. So you went back to your
normal life and now the show is getting ready
to launch. And was it explosively? every like
what was that what what what did that feel like
just uh being on tv and everybody talking about
it being naked in a public space to be honest
with you um i mean you know it's i've i was never
one to grow up saying i want to be famous if
i viewed being famous as something that i did
want it was from an athletic perspective like
i was a big football baseball golf guy and i
always thought you know If I ever be famous,
it's not because I'm an actor or something like
that. It's because I got good at a sport. And
the hardest thing for me to comprehend was all
these people wanted a piece of me or a picture
with me. And I wasn't famous for being good at
anything. I just got dumped on your TV screen.
That's the only reason why you know my name.
And so that was something that was hard for me,
kind of like I wasn't deserving of it, which
you can make an argument that I was or wasn't.
Um, but I remember I went the first episode aired
and it scared me because I watched it in my parents'
house and I was on the last limo during limo
night. I was like number 27 of 31, 32 dudes who
got out. But when they aired it, they cut it
to where I was the first guy out of the limo.
And that right then there's like, Oh, like they
can make me look however they want to make me
look. I did everything that I would normally
do, but I have no idea how they're going to frame
this. So it was like week to week. Well, what's
going to happen this week? Like how are they
going to make me look this week? I'm trying to
remember like stuff that I said and stuff that
I did. And I guess the worst moment was, so when
you're a assistant golf professional at a club,
you report to a head golf professional who reports
to a director of golf. The director of golf reports
to the golf chairman. Well, the golf chairman
pulls me aside one day. He said, Hey, my buddy's
daughter's having her 16th birthday tonight.
would you mind just stopping by and saying hey
and this is like when episode three or four popped
on so i'm like sure i mean you literally control
my salary i can't tell you no so i show up to
this party and i open the door and this girl
faints and her friends like step over her body
to come say hey to me and that's when i was like
i am so uncomfortable with this right now i have
no idea what i'm doing and why i got a little
faint when you popped up on my screen just just
oh yeah sure yeah appreciate it so that's that's
that's wild it's trippy you know from so your
social media how many followers did you have
at the beginning before nobody had known of you
and how how did that progress it was like it
was in the 600s like 46 60 or something like
that okay um my most i think Was $254 ,000. From
a few hundred to a quarter million. Yeah. In
what period of time? Gosh, if I had to lay dates
down, I would guess early March was mid -600s.
And I would guess beginning of that summer, it
was quarter million. At the risk of a spoiler
alert for a show that aired years ago, how did
you do on the show? uh finished fifth so i finished
fifth i didn't make it to hometowns but they
kind of cut me in a way where i was like a martyr
like she picked the dude that everyone didn't
like over me so i like died for a good cause
so i mean it's yeah it was it was such a crazy
experience man i'm so thankful for from multiple
aspects but it has and we will talk about i'm
sure but everything that ensued from that prepared
me in many more ways than i could ever imagine
both from a outward and inward perspective. So
how realistic were the editors' portrayal of
you on the show with who you actually are? You
know, because you said they took great liberties
with everything. Well, yeah, I accept everything
they did, to be honest with you. Like, they showed
the good and the bad of me. A good and bad part
about me is that I'm someone that, like, if I
think you're full of crap, I'm going to tell
you you're full of crap and encourage people,
hey. This is my reasoning for this. I wouldn't
trust this person. Some people may turn that
as a gospel. Some people may turn that as someone
who likes to pursue truth. I can see both sides.
That's just who I am. And I'm someone also I'm
very stubborn, too. If I want to do something
that I think is best for me, that completely
goes against what the lead or anyone else has
to say about it, that I'm going to try to do
it. And that got portrayed in the season. And
I'm not going to sit here and say it's not me.
Because it is. I mean, overall, they could have
given me a much better cut. They also could have
given me a much worse cut. So I think it's about
accurate who I am. Pretty accurate. So as things
are progressing along, did you see like, you
know what? This could be my career. I can monetize
this in some way. Where can I take this next?
I mean, that would go through my mind. That's
what I would be thinking probably. Not once,
man. So again, our show ended. late, I think
it was July 29th, 2019. And the opportunity to
go for Paradise came up and they were talking
to me about that. And what is Paradise? Yes,
Bachelor in Paradise. And so at the time, you
know, I work 40 to 50 to 80 hour weeks and make
$32 ,000 salary a year, which is obviously nothing.
And it was something I love doing. But as soon
as I got back home, The only thing I wanted to
do was to return to being a golf pro and like
a normal dude again. And I worked more after
that show because inside the gates of Shoal Creek,
no one cared about that show. Outside the gates,
I'm not saying everyone cared, but in my age
group, a lot of people cared, a lot more than
normal. So I just wanted to be a golf pro again.
But when they were interviewing me and talking
to me about Bachelor in Paradise, my thought
process was, I mean, I want to be a head guy
at a private club, a high -end private club one
day. That's what I love to do. And I do not think
I am hireable in that position. No one will take
me serious enough. They see me with my shirt
off on a beach again for three months. You know,
even if they think I'm hireable after this, right?
I did not view that as a possibility, so I didn't
pursue it. Now, as far as like the social media
stuff, I did that out of necessity of making
$32 ,000 a year. It's like, yeah. I'll do an
ad. But I was very good about, hey, if I wouldn't
use this and it's not genuine, I'm not going
to take that money. I did that for a certain
amount of time. And then COVID hit and the ads
kind of went down. And I realized, you know what,
I don't really like doing these ads. It's cool,
but I kind of feel like I'm selling people on
stuff, if that makes sense. So did things turn
dark at some point? What happened? Were there
posts that you made or made in the past? What
happened that kind of things started to unravel
a little bit? Well, episode two or three, Us
Weekly, I think it was Us Weekly, came out with
an article about how it was problematic based
off stuff that I liked on Twitter. It's very
pro -conservative stuff. Things that I don't
think are really that crazy, but I guess other
people at that time and other places in the world
did. What was it? It was like, you know, Jesus
Christ is a cool dude. Trump's a great president.
Hard work means nothing. Or no, sorry. Words
mean nothing. Hard work means everything. It
was stuff like that. I think the other stuff
was like pro -Trump stuff. And they just wrote
about how I was this problematic. They wrote
how I like grew up in the country club world,
which we grew up like very low middle class.
I don't know where they got that from. it hurt
because it wasn't it not only was it wasn't true
but i just was like okay like cool you're a liberal
i don't i don't really care what you have to
say about my beliefs it's your beliefs you know
you believe it i'm gonna believe what i believe
right i didn't really know that was a thing where
you could kind of push people over the edge for
what they believe in and that's when i started
thinking all right well like if people are coming
at me for this is this am i an okay person for
believing this way and that's when i started
dive in deep and not only political but personal
you know i tell people the simplest way to describe
my journey is the bible story of the prodigal
son you know and if you're unfamiliar with it
short version there's two sons the dad comes
up to two sons one day and says hey sons who
wants to cash out their inheritance and go off
and do whatever with it the younger son says
that's me dad i'll go do it so the younger son
cashes out his inheritance goes off into the
world spends money on drugs, alcohol, strippers,
all this stuff, until he ends up with nothing
years later, comes crawling back to his dad,
and his dad takes him in and says, it's okay,
you were lost, and now you're found. And the
metaphor behind that is the nature of this world
makes you think that you're not enough, and whatever
is out there in this world that you don't have,
you need. And that was me. Growing up kind of
poor, it was like, okay, I want to be rich. I
want people to know who I am. I want this. I
want that. And I went out there and tried to
grab all that until I realized two years later,
it's like, man, that's not what I want. And so
it wasn't just a political growth. It was kind
of a personal and spiritual growth, too, with
all that. So week two, week three, Us Weekly
is talking about how you're kind of a bad guy
in one way, but your social media following is
like booming, right? Where's your head at in
that? It's got to be super confusing at that
time. Yeah, I didn't really know how. I was a
big comment reader, which you probably know where
I'm going by leading with that. And it's funny
how 90 comments can be great. But boy, you get
that one bad one and it keeps you up at night
sometimes. And it's like, I didn't understand
that. I didn't understand why I felt that way
and didn't understand why I felt the need to
really care what other people thought until it
kept compiling. And what eventually led to. kind
of my peak, if you will, was fast forward a year
later. June 2nd, 2020 was Blackout Tuesday, where
everyone was supposed to post like a black square.
And I can't stand social media trends because
people who were on the show 10 years ago find
an opportunity to somehow become relevant again.
And I don't believe that it really produces any
change whatsoever. It's like, cool, you posted
a black square. What else did you do? Nothing.
Okay. So. The idea of that infuriates me. And
so a Green Beret that I follow, Mike Glover,
posted an American flag. And I was DMing him
because at the time, like blue checks meant something
different back then. I guess he had more access
than they do now. But I messaged Mike and I was
like, just curious, like, why did you post this?
And he was like, our flag's changed. So if we
need to change, we have a track record of showing
that we have changed. So I think it's a good
message. I'm like, yo, that's a great message.
So I posted that. with like fist emojis of every
skin color below and said like, hashtag justice
for George Floyd together as one, something like
that. And I mean, man, the storm that came after
that was nuts. And that's when I started developing
like a hatred, a hatred of not only for the hate
that was coming to me, but a little bit of hatred
towards myself because I let their words get
to me. And I kind of lost sight of who I was
with all that and kind of got lost with all the
anger that came with social media. and a good
example of that too is we um um in july 4th of
that year i posted a picture of me holding the
ar um in front of an american flag and some of
the comments were really raunchy too and so i
remember waking the next day i was like all right
well if you if you didn't like that you're gonna
hate this and then i posted a picture of me holding
american flag in front of american flag no sorry
holding a trump flag and a bud light and that
just got people riled up and i found myself like
I was just posting stuff just to get reactions
because I knew that, like, the confusion and
kind of all the bad I felt about myself deep
down for giving them weight, it was kind of like
trying to battle that, if that makes sense. And
it changed who I was. It absolutely changed who
I was. Was there any particular post that you
can recall now that really got under your skin
the most? Man, I wouldn't say any one particular
one. It was just, I was like a Coke bottle. It
was, you know, you get shaken up, you unleash
the cap and the fizz comes out and everything's
good. I just never unscrewed the cap. It kept
building and building and building and building.
Finally, I hit a point that fall where I was
like, I got to take a break from this. Like I
have to. And so I took a month off. And it was
fantastic, man. It was the best thing I could
have done. I probably should have taken more
time off than that. And that taught me a big
lesson of like, this is not, we were not meant
to be in this echo chamber of what social media
is. We were meant to have about 10 to 20 people
outside of our family, maybe just a little bit
more than that of friends. Like, and it completely
changed my mindset on how to treat social media
to this day. Yeah. I mean, and it all started
with that. You liked something. You didn't even
make comments, right? Or you didn't, you didn't
post anything. It was started with likes. Simple,
simple as that. Yeah. Started with likes and
just posting what I believed in. Super scary
that people are like waiting to track or waiting
to emerge. Like I'm thinking maybe when I heard
this about your story, I started to think, what
have I liked in my past that can actually come
up and bite me in the butt one day? You know?
Yeah. Yeah. And I remember. There's this guy
named Scott Jenstad. No idea if he's still affiliated
or not, but he was their ABC or the production
companies like social media guy where he scoured
your social media before you got on the show
and told you things to delete. And he came up
with two things, both of which I was basically
wishing a buddy happy birthday and included the
word gay in. And so then I was like, OK, are
you sure that's it? like because i don't think
i have anything else he's like no i was like
what about i know i'm a trump supporter i know
that can you know i know it's kind of polarizing
these days in some eyes like how does abc view
that and say abc views that everyone else has
the right to believe any way they want to in
any form or fashion i'm like okay cool so like
the whole trump stuff with me posting about and
the stuff i liked about never popped up that
was going to be an issue at all And so I just
came in this thinking like, whoa, what is all
this stuff and where is this coming from? So
it wasn't really true. What's that? It wasn't
really true. You did not have the outlet to have
your conservative voice be heard. If it was liberal,
if you leaned liberally, then it would have been
okay, I assume, right? Yeah, and I had some dudes
who were on the show with me who were big conservatives
who actually did liberal campaigns after the
show too. And that shows you what some people
will do to compromise their own integrity just
to maintain their fame. They sold out. Mm -hmm.
Wow. So what was the lowest point that you got
to? And how did you dig out mentally, emotionally
from all this? an epiphany that you had or um
you were doubling down and i'm like oh yeah well
you know i'll show you oh here's i'll i'll show
you a rifle and a bud light you know at what
point you're like you know this is this is crazy
i'm going this is really bad for me what was
it that things started to shift for you what
happened Three things, more so in steps. So number
one, October of that year, November, I forgot
which one it was, one of those two months. October,
November of 2020, I took that month break. That
was number one. That kind of reset my mind of
like, hey, you know what, this little box that
I'm holding on to, nothing really matters inside
of here. It's really all about this, right? Number
two was actually breaking up with the woman I
was dating at the time when all of this stuff
was happening. behind closed doors, she was getting
on to me about how it was affecting her image.
And my mindset at the time was, I need support
right now. Like, I feel like I'm lost. I don't
know how to get out of this. I need support.
And this is not being given to me. And after,
after all that, man, I went through 16 weeks
of therapy, because I just couldn't deal with
it. And at the end of the 16 weeks, I call it
was kind of like a metaphorical test day, I realized,
man, this relationship is not doing anything
for me. And so we broke up. And then a month
later, after I told myself I don't want to date
anyone for a year, I met my now wife. And that
was step number three. She really changed the
game for me. And it was going from someone who
was going from such just emotional heartbreak
within myself to emotional heartbreak within
a relationship that I knew did not suit me to
meeting someone who was there for me in every
aspect, which is why we're still married and
our first son eight weeks ago. so those were
really the three steps that kind of set my life
back in order um now after i met my wife and
still posting on social media i still had this
it wasn't nearly as bad i still had this kind
of thought of like all right well you know kind
of have to prove myself a little bit to people
you know i'm this like influencer let me post
this this this and then late last year i actually
got my account hacked by somebody and i didn't
have access for two months and that was the day
Whenever I got it back, I didn't care anymore.
And so I guess that's kind of the fourth and
final step, if you will. It took a little while
for me. Do you think there's anybody in social
media who is able to stay grounded and true to
themselves and be successful? Or has everybody
sold themselves out to some extent? My opinion,
to one extent or another, everyone sells themselves
out at some point. It can be a little bit, it
can be a little compromise here or there. This
person can be a lot better than what I was and
catch themselves in that compromise and kind
of back up from it and become back who they are.
It is a very slippery slope. And what I've told
people for years, the reason for that is I think
that the way the human brain sees fame is very
similar to a drug. You experience just a little
bit. just a little bit of someone kind of praising
you here and there praise that you're not used
to praise that you've only heard about and then
you get it and i mean even to this day man there's
a part of me like a small part of me that still
wants to go down that rabbit hole but i know
it's like if i do that i'm not i'm gonna end
up being the person that i was then that i don't
want to be anymore and so that's why like you
look at my social media it is my wife my dog
and my baby and maybe a couple of golf things
here or there but i'm a terrible influencer,
if you want to still call me that. Yeah, I believe
people compromise for the most part. Most people
will when it comes to social media. Do you have
a message for young people who are, I mean, they
all want to be, not all, many of them want to
be influencers. They gauge their self -worth
by the number of likes and followers that they
have. I mean, you had a taste of it at the highest
levels. What's your... recommendation or suggestion
to young people? What do we do? This is a problem.
I would say it's an okay thing to pursue if that
is honestly what you want to pursue. If you want
to pursue it because you think it's going to
lead you to some light or happiness at the end
of the day, you're incorrect. And I think it
was Jim Carrey had a quote. i read when all this
stuff was going on or it was before this he said
like i wish everyone in the world had all the
fame and money and and accolades or whatever
the quote is and understand that at the end of
the day it won't make them happy and man that
is so correct because i had all that you know
and at that time i had the most money i've ever
had had all these people tell me they love me
I had all these brand deals that wanted me to
do this, this, and that. I had people fly me
out to go to clubs to pay me $3 ,000 just to
party in a club for two to three hours. Like,
had all that. And for me, being a kid from Alabama,
that's a huge deal. I understand it's all relative.
But it didn't do anything for me in the end.
It just left me wanting more. Because at what
point, when do you stop with that? You don't
just cut that off and say, hey, I'm satisfied.
You're not. And so I would stress highly that.
It is a career field that will not satisfy long
-term. It's like I think of the Kardashians,
and they've done it long -term, but at what cost?
I mean, the way they've done it just must be
so manufactured. I can't even imagine what it's
like to be them or how much of their souls they've
sold in order to have this long -term successful
career. Yeah, that's a really good point. I feel
like you have to give up so much to get to that
point, and there's no telling what all they've
given up. Do you have any regrets about your
journey? I mean, it's such a unique experience
that you've had. I believe I saw an interview
where you said 1 % of the people have experienced
what you have. It's not 1%. I mean, we're talking
like .0001 % have experienced what you have to
be extraordinarily well -known in a very short
period of time. you know do you have any regrets
if you could do things all over again what would
you have done differently i love this question
man because my first thought to it is yeah and
i automatically go back like every human and
look at all the bad stuff that i ever did and
all the things or all the things that people
thought were bad that i ever did and all the
stuff on social media and all this but in reality
I don't regret it at all. Wouldn't be on here
with you. Wouldn't have my baby boy downstairs
crying. Wouldn't have my wife. Wouldn't have
the life that I live right now. I do not regret
a single bit of it. And it's easy to think about
what could I change? And when you have that mentality,
you tend to overlook what's in front of you right
now. And I've been doing that for way too long.
And so don't regret anything. I love everything
that's given me. You know, there's a paradox
like. The people that are most successful on
social media are the ones that are authentic
because people can smell inauthenticity a mile
away. But if you're authentic, then you might
be pigeonholing yourself because you have conservative
values, for example. And so you alienate a huge
portion of the world. Do you have any thoughts
on that? What's the right thing to do? I think
it's something that you enjoy and you truly believe
in. I don't think I thought about that for a
long time. Like when I was back in it, should
I post political stuff or do I want to stay out
of it? Stay out of it. Then technically a hundred
percent in the country, I have access to the
post political stuff and it's only 50%. Do I
really want to do that? And I just think at some
point what you really care about and what you
really value will come out. And when it does
come out, you're going to find yourself enjoying
that a whole lot more because you feel like you're
being true to yourself than just trying to speak
to a wide range of audiences. Now, there are
plenty of people who have done something completely
different than that, been very successful. Speaking
from my end, through my lens, I view what you're
passionate about and what you love to do. That's
what you should speak about. I think so, too.
Just be true to yourself. who cares what people
think and really don't try not to chase those
likes and the positive comments and subscribers
and followers so much because it's You know,
you can get consumed by it. It's a very strange
times that we live in yeah, and food for thought
too, it's it's like It's easy to say, you know
don't care what other people say but we often
get caught in this mindset of We try to think
about what other people think about us, whether
they like us or don't like us. It's funny. If
you really think about that, you are telling
yourself that this person thinks negatively about
you and you're trying to put your own thoughts
into their mind. When in reality, you have no
idea what this person's thinking of you. And
in reality, most of the time, no one's thinking
of you. They're all thinking about themselves
and how to try to get by on their own. And even
a little snippet on social media, they leave
you. More than likely, you're in a... they're
in a bad mood and you were just their outlet.
And I wish I would have known that years ago
because it would have saved me a lot of time,
a lot of anger and a lot of heartache. And now
you have a kid somehow, I mean, if you could,
so you, you learned the hard way and you experienced
a lot of lows and I was a similar, similar way.
I were, we're wired kind of similarly and I had
to dig myself out. realize, hey, time out. I
didn't do anything wrong. There's nothing wrong
with me. But now you have a kid. How are you
going to be a parent to this kid to teach him
to keep his head on straight and not be whipsawed
by what people out there think of him? And in
a few years from now, it's going to be even worse,
I'm sure. So I am putting a heavy emphasis on
effort. I'm going to praise him in public. for
his effort. If he gave it a hundred percent and
he knows that he gave it a hundred percent, no
matter what it is, I don't care if it's school.
I don't care if it's baseball. I don't care.
I'm going to praise that effort. Um, and something
again, it's like, you know, for years I was,
I was mad at my parents because I felt like they
didn't do that for us. But in reality, every
parent is doing the best that they can with what
they have. Right. And you know, my dad, my mom
was raised on a farm. with a dad who was very
strict. My dad was raised by a World War II veteran
who battled demons all the time. So frankly,
neither of them really knew how to be parents
to my parents. I would make that argument. But
I find that if I can get my child, Rowan's his
name, focus on asking himself the question, did
I give it my full effort? Then that's where he's
going to root his happiness in is, okay, I'm
going to feel satisfied. I'm going to feel happy
if I felt like I really gave it my all. Not on
the results. The world likes to focus on results.
I want him to focus more on the process, getting
to those results, more so the journey. Beautiful.
And how important has your faith been on this
path? Any stories you can share where your faith
really propped you up or questioned your faith?
Anything like that? Yeah, definitely after the
show, kind of had that. You know, the victim
mindset of, God, why would you do this to me?
Like, why does this happen to me? And my dad
actually helped me with this a lot. You know,
I had, it was one of those nights where I just
broke down, had way too much to drink. My family
was over, and my dad, the next day, pulled me
aside. He's like, son, you're not a victim. You
need to quit acting like a victim. And he called
me out. In the moment, I was kind of shocked
and taken aback by that, but that was the best
thing he could have told me. And it's like, Metaphorically
speaking, what he was telling me is that all
this bad stuff that you think is happening to
you that you're focusing on is taking away your
vision from all the great things that you have
in your life and things you need to be thankful
for. You are not a victim. And so instead of
waking up thinking about all the bad stuff I
did yesterday, I wake up and I have a gratitude
journal. I write down all the stuff that I have
and things I'm thankful for in that moment right
there. And then I pray to God that I have them.
And that's something that's been huge for me
and huge for my family. It seems goofy, but every
morning, me and my wife, before our dog Hogan
has his breakfast, we pray over him. And it's
just little acts of prayer like that throughout
the day really help uplift the household. You
know, Rowan, our son, is an IVF baby. Our first
baby that we had, my wife had an ectopic pregnancy.
And it was a huge ordeal where she got one fallopian
tube removed. And so there was a lot of prayer
after that because we... We've always wanted
to start a family, and it seemed like our chances
of starting a family got cut significantly down.
And we talked about IVF, and we prayed about
it. And, man, well, Roe is healthy and strong
as can be. You know, it's more than just being
a victim. I think these challenging times serve
us in some way that are beyond our understanding.
You know, how do you think it's these challenges
that have been put in front of you? very unique
journey have served you to become a leveled up
human being well it's about exposure right it's
you know if you're if you're somebody who's never
been exposed any kind of significant problem
like that then you're someone who's never really
gonna be able to help anybody else um deal with
their issues and i like to think that because
i was exposed to a certain set of circumstances
Although, hopefully, they're going to be very
different than what my son gets exposed to. But
I know how to reach in those deep, dark places
and kind of pull myself out of that. And that's
something I feel like I can help my family, whether
it's my wife or my son, if they're ever in that
predicament. And I do believe, based off how
our family has each and all been exposed to different
setbacks. You know, my parents went through the
08 financial crisis. I mean, they had pennies
to their name. at certain points in my childhood.
And I remember them getting through it. And them
getting through it taught me a valuable lesson
on how to get through things in my own life.
And I hope that me digging myself out of that
hole after the show and after all the social
media mayhem and everything, I can use that and
teach my son valuable lessons in the future too.
So you've navigated the path. You found your
peace. Completely, utterly at peace and happiness
and joy where you are today. Yeah, I am. Yeah.
So thank you for being on the show, Garrett.
It was a pleasure to meet you. God bless little
Rowan. He sounds like he's in great hands and
he's got a great dad. I'm sure your wife is a
beautiful reflection of you. I wish you all kinds
of love and success and prosperity and everything
that you decide to do in your life going forward.
Thank you, man. God bless. Thanks for having
me. Thank you, brother.