Everything Sucks, Now What? A Merriment Method for a Messy World.

9 Steps + 25 Ways to Wrap Up Your Year and Make New Year’s Eve Feel Fun Again

This is a video episode on YouTube and it's much more engaging if you watch it!

Watch here: https://youtu.be/huFtLFVhb_E

The days between December 26th and New Year’s Eve can feel oddly empty. 📅

You’re off schedule. Time feels fake. ⏰ 🫠 And suddenly you’re supposed to reflect on an entire year and magically feel excited about the next one.

In this episode, I’m walking you through exactly how I wrap up my year, step by step. 🪩 As a real, tangible process that helps me close a year without shame and enter the next one without punishment.

You’ll hear how I actually do my year-end reflection. 

The lists I make. 📝 The journals I revisit. 📲 The screenshots I save. The goals I retire. The proof I gather so my brain can’t tell me I did “nothing.” 🎀 I’ll share how I tie up loose ends, orient myself emotionally, and prepare for January without spiraling or forcing motivation.

Then we talk New Year’s Eve. 🥳

Not the pressure version. 🍌 The absurd, celebratory, low-performance version.

Whether you’re spending it solo or with friends, you’ll get playful, unhinged ideas for making the night feel meaningful again. Insane rituals. 🧸 Pajamas. Sparkles. Thirst-trap selfies in onesies. 💋 Early celebrations. Midnight rituals that don’t require reinvention.

🚫🍪 Screw cookie cutter nonsense. We're rewriting the "rules".

This episode is for you if:

🎉 the year took more out of you than you expected
🎉 you don’t want to “fix yourself” in January
🎉 you want reflection without rumination
🎉 you want New Year’s Eve to feel fun, not hollow
🎉 you don’t know what to do during that weird December 26–30 stretch

You’ll leave with:

🎈 practical ways to wrap up your year gently
🎈 ideas for tying up loose ends without overwhelm
🎈 celebratory New Year’s Eve inspiration (solo or group)
🎈 permission to cross the threshold as yourself

If you want more structure, support, and softness, this episode pairs beautifully with my Merry New Year experience. It’s a guided container for reflecting on your year, making New Year’s Eve feel special again, and setting goals that don’t make you feel like crap.

You can explore it anytime at 🔗 uncustomary.org/newyear

No pressure.
No clipboard.
Just a kinder, more fun way to close one chapter and open the next.

Why Beige Self-Help Never Worked for Me: When the Advice Is Fine but the Room Feels Wrong

I don’t think most self-help is wrong.
I DO think a lot of it is beige.

In this episode, I talk about why so much well-intended personal growth advice never landed for me. Not because the tools were bad. Not because I didn’t try hard enough. But because the rooms they lived in never felt safe for my nervous system, my personality, or my way of being alive.

I explain what “beige self-help” actually looks like. The calm voices. The perfect routines. The unspoken assumption that everyone has stable energy, neutral emotions, and a nervous system that never spikes or freezes.

I share a powerful realization sparked by a student inside Positive Pulse.

It isn’t always the tools that fail us. Sometimes it’s the container. And when we don’t feel reflected, we don’t feel safe enough to practice, integrate, or trust ourselves.

This episode is for anyone who has ever thought:

• “Why does this work for everyone else but not me?”

• “Why do I feel like I have to quiet myself down to belong?”

• “What if I’m not broken… I’m just in the wrong room?”

Your happiness doesn’t have to get quieter.
It might just need a space that fits you.

 

Uncustomary.org/PP

Tiny Billboards of Joy: Jessica Watson & The Have A Nice Day Project

In this heartwarming, quietly rebellious episode of The Merriment Making Podcast, Mary sits down with Baltimore-based creative director and community connector Jessica Watson, the mind and heart behind the beloved Have A Nice Day Project.

For more than a decade, Jess has invited Baltimoreans to gather around long tables, pick up markers, and write encouraging messages on blank coffee sleeves. These tiny billboards of joy make their way into local cafés, landing in the hands of strangers who might need a reminder to breathe, to laugh, or to keep going.

Together, Mary and Jess explore:

🩷 What it means to find joy in a season of responsibility; especially when caregiving becomes part of your daily rhythm
🧡 How to schedule joy without making it feel like another task on your to-do list
💛Why grown adults still need adventure, curiosity, and the willingness to make a U-turn when something sparks wonder
💚 How to follow your weird; even when it doesn’t “match” how people expect you to present
💙 The origin story of the Have A Nice Day Project (spoiler: it began with a jarringly ugly corporate coffee sleeve)
💜 Why creative community work thrives when you let it be simple, imperfect, and wildly human

They also talk about the beauty of Baltimore, the importance of micro-moments of delight, the secret gardens hidden in plain sight, and Jess’s worldwide adventures living “like a local” in cities across the globe.

This conversation is balm. It’s an invitation. And it’s a celebration of the quiet weirdness that makes each of us who we are.

🌼 References & Resources Mentioned

Have A Nice Day Project
Website: https://haveanicedayproject.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haveaniceday2015

The North Loft (Points North)
Website: https://northbypointsnorth.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northbypn

Coba Café (original café partner)
https://www.cobacafe.com

Baltimore Improv Group (BIG)
https://www.bigimprov.org

Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com

Roadside America
https://www.roadsideamerica.com

Mantra mentioned by Jess:
“Be still and know that I am good.” - Nov 25th Episode - Women's Voices So Dangerous They Buried Them: Meggan Watterson (We Can Do Hard Things Podcast)

How To Do Solo Dates (AND Do Joy Missions!)

Ever treated yourself the way you wish someone else would? In this episode, I talk about SOLO DATES and show you exactly HOW to do them.

PLUS a new fun way to incorporate joy missions into them!

Whether you’re craving deeper self-connection, want to romanticize your Tuesday again, or are simply looking for a playful push to get out of autopilot, this conversation has everything from reflection tips to glitter-forward guerrilla kindness ideas.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why solo dates matter (and how to do them without feeling awkward)
  
  
• How to seamlessly incorporate joy missions into your alone time
  
  
• How to officially submit your act to the 11K Tracker and be part of our global joy map
  
  

🧡 BONUS: Tap into Positive Pulse for extras like:

• 50+ solo date ideas
  
  
• A “joy mission” supply checklist
  
  
• 25 rebellious missions
  
• Acts of merriment you can do in 2 minutes or less
  
  
• Solo reflection prompts to deepen your self-love game
  
  

📌 Want in on the 11K movement? Submit your joy act or follow along in real-time at Uncustomary.org/11K.

Remember: You don’t need a partner to be in love with the world.
You just need a spark. 🕯️
And you’ve already got that.

 

Get your bonuses for this episode in the Positive Pulse at Uncustomary.org/PP

How To Have Fun While You Wait: Why Liminal Spaces Feel Scary

Stuck in a DMV line? Sitting in a quiet waiting room? Driving home after something ends? 

This episode helps you find joy in the in-between. We name why waiting (and liminal spaces) feels scary, tell real stories (medical tests, money stress, weird Tuesdays), and share tiny acts that make dull moments feel alive. You’ll get simple tools: a “doorway song,” a pocket anchor, micro-kindness missions, and better questions than “how’s the weather?” 

Leave with a plan for fear, not just a scroll.

Try this today: give one person in a waiting space something to smile about—even if it’s you.

P.S. Positive Pulse is moving to Merriment Dues so we can keep the lights on.

• Current members: upgrade by Nov 21 (7-day free trial; 89¢/mo locked in).
  
  
• New members: paid starts Nov 1.
  There’s still a free section with select resources. 💛

Positive Pulse - Uncustomary.org/PP

When Good Things Feel Scary: You’re Allowed to Enjoy It Anyway

Why do good things feel so terrifying sometimes? Why does joy make us hold our breath instead of exhaling? In this episode, we’re talking about the quiet, sneaky ways we brace for the end before the ending ever comes.

Let's talk about how betrayal, scarcity, control, and anticipatory grief all trace back to fear and lack of trust, and how pre-grieving doesn’t actually protect us.

Using the famous “regrets of the dying” as guideposts, we’ll look at what people wish they’d done more of (being present, taking chances, trusting love) and how you can start doing those things now while you’re still very much alive.

I share a personal story about love, trust, and waiting for the other shoe to drop, plus practical, weird, Merriment-Making ways to start living the “middle” instead of fearing the end.

This episode is a soft rebellion against living half-alive.

For more absurd ways to feel more alive, join us in Everything Sucks, Now What?

Positive Pulse - Uncustomary.org/PP

Everything Sucks, Now What? - Uncustomary.org/EverythingSucks

Life Update: October 2025

It's that time of year! An unedited honest ramble of what's been going on in my life and my take on the new Taylor Swift album.

Peppercorns Of Pleasure: 33 Good Things

Peppercorns of Pleasure is a quick-hit tasting menu of 33 delight bites. 

Strange, sweet, and ridiculous moments that made me smile for no reason at all. Think bald heads in party hats, bears admiring the view, or the cozy click of adjusting your leggings just right. These aren’t grand gestures of happiness, they’re micro-merriments, proof that joy hides in the smallest corners of our days. Listen in, laugh with me, and maybe notice your own peppercorns of pleasure along the way.

Check out 111 FM for more positive audio!
Uncustomary.org/111

How to See Beauty When You’re Mad at the World

Part pep talk, part rebellion, very practical.

If the world feels loud and gross and you can’t make yourself care, this one’s for you. We talk about practical optimism (realistic, not “everything’s fine”), how to move from disenchanted → enchanted in small steps, and what to try on days when feeling good feels out of reach.

You’ll get nervous-system first aid, micro “caught beauty” practices, art-in-live-time experiments, and ways to create safe pockets of meaning for yourself and your people. This isn’t about fixing you. It’s about finding workable levers again.

I’m also inviting you to catch the world being beautiful this week—photo, sentence, voice not, and send it in so we can feature a few next episode.

If this resonates, my new self-paced program Everything Sucks, Now What? is open on pre-sale inside Positive Pulse. It starts Oct 5. Pre-sale is $88 (or $44×2) until September 21st, then it’s $111. If your heart perked up, grab the lower rate.

 

Links:
↳ Submit your “caught beauty”: Uncustomary.org/11K
↳ Join Everything Sucks, Now What? (pre-sale): Uncustomary.org/EverythingSucks
↳ Join Positive Pulse (free community): Uncustomary.org/PP

This episode is creative/philosophical support, not medical advice.

The Skeleton Under My Joy: A Memoir of What It Took To Be This Loud About Love

Happiness wasn’t handed to me.

I built it on top of addiction, silence, and skeletons that still rattle when I celebrate.

In this solo confessional, I name the cost: seven years of ketamine and dissociation, bloody letters on windshields when I didn’t know how to speak, recurring dreams (the tiger in the pit, the cords, the flat clock) that wired me for hyper-vigilance and perfectionism.

I talk about waking up shoeless in fields, choosing CBT, crying after sessions, and finding mischief that heals: guerrilla art, yarnbombs, tiny public interruptions that get us off autopilot.

There wasn’t one turning point. There were a hundred.

I talk about how I:

- ended up finding myself through guerrilla art
- was called boring by my boyfriend
- was inspired by David Goggins in a surprising way
- don’t believe in ”one arc” or turning point
- my deconstructed my 3 childhood recurring dreams and how they gave me insight into my childhood trauma
- am not my best student
- JUST realized why I’m drawn to my two biggest hobbies (live on air)
... I cry in this one

Feeling good isn’t natural for me; it’s chosen, again and again, with mortality in the room.

If everything feels unbearable right now, I built something for that: Everything Sucks, What Now? My practical toolkit inside the Positive Pulse, starting October 5.

Play is my protest. Wonder is my work.

Uncustomary.org/PP