Today’s Daily Whatever Show had that familiar bestie energy right from the start, complete with Gen X–style tech gremlins, audio checks, and a collective decision to just push through.
Lawrence eventually wrangled the mics, the lag, and the Ethernet cable long enough to bring on the real reason everyone was present: Kerala Goodkin returning to the show to talk about her essay, “The Year I Did Hard Things” and the quieter, more relational work of building a meaningful life.
Kerala grounded the conversation immediately, sharing her path back to writing at 40 and how Mom Interrupted grew out of a desire to question the narratives wrapped around motherhood, work, marriage, and worth.
The heart of the episode centered on her reframing of “hard things” not as resume achievements, but as choices like prioritizing care, community, and connection in a culture that doesn’t reward any of them. Her description of parenting as an “evening unpaid Uber shift” landed because it was funny, true, and generous all at once.
The conversation moved naturally through independence, aging, and the relief that comes with caring less about being perceived correctly. Kerala talked candidly about learning to do things alone, including sitting at a Longhorn Steakhouse on Christmas Eve, and how that shift wasn’t about bravado but about autonomy.
That thread widened into a thoughtful discussion of divorce, where she pushed back on the idea that acknowledging freedom and growth afterward is the same as glorifying the process itself.
Divorce, she explained, wasn’t an ending so much as an interruption that made room for a more honest life and a better relationship with her kids. Later, the tone deepened as we talked about parenting in a moment saturated with bad news, online radicalization, and fear.
Kerala shared how she navigates conversations with her children, balancing honesty with protection, and why she’s become more intentional about limiting her exposure to national news while staying engaged locally. Her emphasis on building small, real communities as a counterweight to a chaotic world felt practical rather than aspirational.
It was great spending time with Kerala again. The episode closed where it began: with warmth, candor, and the sense that doing hard things doesn’t always look dramatic, but it does add up.
We love you all—truly!—mean it.
We’ll be back tomorrow morning bright and early for another amazing week on The Daily Whatever Show with out guest Jenn Budd.
Thank you to all of our amazing Whatevers for tuning into our chat with Kerala Goodkin, me and Lawrence Winnerman including Dr. Amber Hull NeuroDivergent Hodgepodge, Cat, Char Sundust, You Ready Grandma and our Moderator Karen Marie Shelton. We appreciate all of you for tuning into our live video with
