Dawn and Ruth start this one with Ash Wednesday updates and a wild circus reinvention Dawn attended (no animals, robotic performers, no ringmaster, just pure light-show magic). The circus becomes the perfect metaphor for what happens when you throw out the old playbook and create something entirely new.

Enter MaryAnne McKibben Dana: Presbyterian pastor in Northern Virginia, writer, leadership coach, and author whose fourth book Better Than Normal drops April 14, 2026. MaryAnne's been living the "yes, and" improv principle for years (she literally wrote a book called God, Improv, and the Art of Living), and now she's taking it to the next level.

Here's her thesis: What if most of our struggles aren't internal deficits but external cultural mismatches? What if "norm culture" is the problem? MaryAnne knows this from raising three neurodivergent kids through mental health challenges and watching how the world tries to squeeze them into boxes that don't fit.

Better Than Normal argues for discarding the idea of a default human standard altogether. We're talking neurodivergence, race, immigration status, LGBTQ identity: all the ways humans actually exist versus how we pretend they should. The book's six chapters walk through shifts like moving from certainty to curiosity, from rigid categories to expansive possibilities.

MaryAnne imagines a world where we question everything: the 40-hour work week, traditional schooling, all of it. Dawn coaches MaryAnne through her discomfort with self-promotion, reframing publicity as stewardship of an idea that can reduce suffering. Because this book? It's arriving at exactly the right cultural moment.

LINKS: Find out more about MaryAnne McKibben Dana's work: https://www.maryannmckibbendana.net/

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00:00 Throwing Out “Normal”: Making Room for the Full Human Spectrum

00:23 February Check-In: Lent, Ash Wednesday, and New York Stories

01:07 Ashes on the Sidewalk: Church at a Busy Intersection

01:47 Ash Thursday at the Circus: The Reinvented Big Top (No Animals!)

03:45 From Acrobats to Expectations: Setting Up the “Living Outside the Norm” Theme

04:48 Meet Maryanne McKibben Dana: Pastor, Writer, Coach, Runner

06:58 Improv as Spiritual Practice: “Yes, And” for Real Life

09:22 Introducing the New Book: From Hope During COVID to Better Than Normal

11:15 What “Better Than Normal” Argues: Ditching Defaults, Choosing Curiosity

13:42 If the Book Changed the World: Rethinking School, Work, and Assumptions

15:07 Creativity on the Run: Capturing Ideas Mid-Workout

16:22 Running vs. Yoga: Different Paths to a Creative Mind

17:07 Finding a Writing Rhythm in the Margins of Life

18:16 Writing Retreats: Making Space for Deep Work

19:04 Virtual Co-Working & Pomodoro: The ‘Writing Table’ Method

20:43 Creative Mentors & Inspiration (Substack, Austin Kleon, Carrie Newcomer)

22:59 Where Creativity Meets Spirituality: Writing as a Journey

25:11 Pastor + Writer: Boundaries, Authenticity, and Being ‘More Than One Thing’

27:54 Coaching on Book Promotion: From Self-Promo to Stewardship

30:43 Sincerity vs. Cynicism: Getting the Idea Into the World

33:12 Release Details, Pre-Orders, and Final Send-Off

Ep 118 - What If "Normal" Is Actually the Problem? with MaryAnne McKibben Dana