Meet Tami Dahl | Joy Advocate, Life Coach, Artist, and Dancer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tami Dahl and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tami, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
When giving out career advice, people say — follow your passion in life. They tell people if they make their passions their job, they will “never work another day in their life”. I disagree with this as a general approach to career development and how to live a life you enjoy. It just confuses people and starts to tie people’s jobs with their whole identity. This leaves such a narrow view of what’s actually the goal when someone is looking to make a change in their career. To me the goal of having a job you enjoy is so you can enjoy the time you are at work and the time you are not at work — essentially planning for a joyful life, not just a fulfilling job.

Telling people to follow your passion has at least 3 issues – 1) not everyone has a singular passion they can follow; some have 100 things they are passionate about, and it just depends on the day of the week and their mood which one is fulfilling them at the moment. Telling them to pick just one leads to a whole other dilemma. 2) It’s hard to say follow your passion to people who enjoy doing something just for the sake of it. They get in a flow and that’s why they enjoy it. It might not involve other people and what they want or expect. So, trying to make money from that flow experience could alter the dynamic of the process and freedom of creation is affected. 3) To say follow your passion also seems to imply if it’s not your passion it won’t serve you to pursue it. This is rubbish, some of the most joyful people I know have rich home lives and quality community ties outside of their “day jobs”.

You do not have to be super passionate about that job that pays your bills. If it’s not stress inducing or toxic, you can have a mediocre job that pays your bills and allows you to save a little — and enables you to have an amazing life outside of work. Your job is not a place where you MUST find money and your ultimate joy. Many times, when people try to make money from the things that they care a lot about – things change. For me the dynamic of painting in my room changes when I am trying to create for someone else or when I care about what I am making. It’s no longer about the process of paint on my hands and me being alone in my room. For some reason I start to have different thoughts and turn it into an agenda, and I tend to lose my own subconscious feeling of freedom, which as a human is an innate need of mine.

So, finding your joy and pursuing it as a career doesn’t feel like good advice for everyone. Or at least not as a guiding mantra. Of course, I want people to work at and make many from things they are passionate about. But not all things we are passionate about are suited for commercialization and exposure to economic realities. Some things are joys because it’s not about the outcome, it is the experience that matters most. Heck – some of us would pay to do the things we love – forget trying to get paid for it. Instead, I’d like to advocate for people seeking their joy and tenaciously chase after it as part of their life’s purpose – not their singular career path. Whether you get paid or not paid for it, looking for hobbies and communities outside of your job gives your life more substance, so when things hit the fan at work, you aren’t left in the dark.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a career and leadership coach by day and an artist and dancer all the time. Over the past 15 years I have worked in Higher Education with graduate students, helping them navigate big decisions in their careers. Currently I work at Emory in the Business School with Evening and Executive MBA students. Prior to that I worked on the other side of Emory’s campus with researchers and with PhDs in biomedical engineering, helping them through career exploration and leadership development.

As an artist, I’ve been doodling my whole life. My mom loves to recount the story of the time I scratched a big whale into the microwave in the kitchen. I swore it wasn’t me. It couldn’t be anyone else, she said. I guess I didn’t realize that not everyone could see art in just about everything they looked at. It just comes naturally for me to see a squiggly line and actually see 2 bodies dancing joyfully. That still comes through in my art and what I think makes my process different – I usually have no idea what I am going to create. I tend to just throw paint down and let the materials decide what gesture lines will create an image in my mind that I can then trace out. That means my work tends to have a lot of textures and colors because it takes some building up of lines and colors sometimes for the images to speak to me. I remember my grandma doing something similar when she doodled.

I think this is a challenge for me when I want to draw a certain thing, or someone requests that I make something. It usually turns out fine, but I definitely have some angst during the process to deliver the outcome I agreed to. a couple years ago I was talking with an Atlanta graffiti artist about his style – I asked him how much of a pain it was to work for clients with his art. I assumed he was constantly having to convince them of his ideas, and any changes he made would have to be agreed on time. His answer surprised me. He said he never gets push back and his clients give him freedom because they are paying for his style. They agree with his brand, and actually give him freedom to do this thing. This was huge for me. It helps me not things so much about if people will like it, they already like my style so I just need to being myself to the project and everything else will be fine.

As a folk dancer, I have really found a space where I am be free. As I learn more about folk dance from the US and around the world, I am so excited to teach more people about dance and the joys that come with it. Just this month I was offered an opportunity to teach some waltz classes in Lawrenceville. I offered to do it for free, and the programming lady highly encouraged me to charge for it. It’s really fun to think I can add dance as an element of my career and things that fulfill me — and help others find freedom in dance.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Wednesday we would go to the Beltline with some roller blades or electric scooters and go do some graffiti down near Krog Street and check out the cabbage town murals. At night we would go to our local community contra dance caller practice to dance a little bit and help others learn to be better callers

Thursday we would drive out to Paradise Gardens in Summerville, GA – its 2 hours north, but it’s a must see destination for any of my out of town guests

Friday afternoon we’d go to Grant Park to check out the beautiful trees, maybe Oakland cemetery too, then head to Decatur Square for dinner and contra dancing – they dance every friday night! www.contradance.org

Saturday we would pack a picnic and climb Stone Mountain, then maybe some axes before dinner

Sunday we would check out the Mechanical Riverfront in Decatur, then walk through the Goddess Garden downtown

Monday we’d go to JeJu a Korean Spa to do the saunas and get lunch, on the way back we’d stop at the DeKalb International Farmers Markets to make dinner at home and invite some friends over

Tuesday if its hot enough we will ‘Shoot the Hooch” and go tubing down the Chattahoochee River near Roswell.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Many people have supported me in my journey. My family and kids, Ella and Miles; My partner Ed who colors and gives purpose to my life; I’m thankful for the mentorship and growth I have had with my past and current bosses at work – Danielle, Nael, and Joan; my quality friends who inspire me and are there for me Joe, Robert, and Julie. I’m so grateful for the many of the people in my local communities that have made me feel so welcomed these past couple years, from local artists in Atlanta willing to chat with me, to my dancing friends particularly the Chattahoochee Contra Dancers, and all of the nature groups such as the Georgia Mushroom Club and Georgia Native Plant Society that are living out their passions, sharing their knowledge AND and creating spaces for others to discover their own passions and actively participate in them.

Other: tdahl2018@gmail,com

Image Credits
David Franz – for the 2 dancing photos