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Everything Sucks, Now What? is a podcast about living thoughtfully in a complicated world.
Hosted by Mary England, creator of the Merriment Method, this show is for people who feel the weight of reality but still want to build something kinder inside it.
Each episode explores how to hold two truths at once: grief and hope, rage and responsibility, realism and joy. Instead of pretending things are fine or collapsing into despair, we practice nuance. We name what’s broken. Then we ask what we can do about it.
Through psychological insight, cultural analysis, and gently absurd real-life examples, Mary translates big systemic issues into personal, livable frameworks. You’ll hear conversations about care, power, relationships, burnout, joy, responsibility, and the systems shaping our daily lives. The goal is not perfection or positivity. The goal is clarity, agency, and shared responsibility in a messy world.
This is where we move beyond black-and-white thinking and learn how to build strong circles inside imperfect systems. It’s practical, emotionally honest, and grounded in the belief that feeling good is not denial. It’s a collective condition we help create together.
If you’ve ever thought, “Everything feels overwhelming, but I still want to live well and do good,” you’re in the right place.
Everything Sucks, Now What?
A Merriment Method for a Messy World.
Episodes
Thursday Apr 16, 2026
Thursday Apr 16, 2026
What happens when life looks good on the outside, but something still feels heavy... and you can't quite explain why?
This week, I'm sitting down with Kendall, author, social worker, mom of two, and the creator of Cloudy Day Chronicles: a blog, Substack, and now a children's book built around one of the gentlest, most honest mental health metaphors I've ever encountered: the cloud that follows you.
We met the way most great things happen; completely by accident, at Artscape, because a three-year-old lost her mind over a rainbow. And I've been grateful ever since.
In this conversation, Kendall gets deeply real about what it actually feels like to live with high-functioning depression. The kind where you show up, hold it together, and still feel shaded even when you know the sun is there. We talk about postpartum depression, ADHD, disordered eating, autoimmune illness, body image, and what it means to build a shared language around feelings that are hard to name.
We also dig into:
- 🌥️ Why Kendall's cloud metaphor started as a wave in therapy (and why she had to change it)
- 🌥️ What "high-functioning depression" actually looks like from the inside
- 🌥️ The people-pleasing spiral and how to show up for others without abandoning yourself
- 🌥️ Why she wrote a children's book about a mom's mental health ; and what traditional publishers said about it
- 🌥️ The Pay It Forward program she built around her book to reach families who need it most
- 🌥️ What her daughter Alma taught her about clouds that no therapist ever did
This one made me cry. In the best way.
📖 Get the book & find all of Kendall's resources at cloudydaychronicles.org 📸 Follow her everywhere @CloudyDayChronicles
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