Everyone is a Storyteller #1 | Everyday is a Story

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Everyone is a Storyteller #1 | Everyday is a Story"

Podcast: Shannon Cason’s Homemade
Host: Shannon Cason
Date: May 1, 2026

Episode Overview

In this thoughtful and intimate episode of Homemade, Shannon Cason introduces the new series “Every Day is a Story.” Shannon explores the premise that everyone has stories worth telling, regardless of how eventful their lives seem. He shares his creative process for interpreting everyday moments with meaning and invites listeners' voices through shared stories. The episode features candid submissions from the Homemade community, highlighting the profound impact of simple, honest storytelling.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Art of Everyday Storytelling

(00:00 - 03:20)

• Perspective Shapes Stories: Shannon emphasizes that meaning isn’t about dramatic moments, but about perspective and awareness.
  • “I don’t think much happens to me either. Just being real. It’s about perspective and awareness.” – Shannon (00:19)
• Influences from Other Writers: Inspires his approach with authors like Raymond Carver, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, and especially Walter Mosley, noting the beauty of “pedestrian moments” in storytelling.
• Creative Boundaries: Sets personal rules to spark creativity:
  • Draws the story’s context from the last 24 hours.
  • Stresses simplicity and emotional honesty.
  • Keeps stories “lightly edited,” imperfections included.
  • “Let’s be real. So keep the realness in the stories and also notice moments of meaning.” – Shannon (01:53)
• Storytelling as Practice: Shannon views storytelling less as a writing exercise, more as a daily practice of finding and sharing meaning.

2. Listener Stories: Everyday Meaningful Moments

(03:21 - 10:22)

A. Dee’s HOA Story

(03:21 - 04:44)

• Dee reflects on the challenges of balancing her roles as an HOA president and a neighbor, expressing frustration about perceived sincerity in neighborly interactions.
  • “Some of them, I wonder just how sincere they are.” – Dee (03:59)
  • “To some people, I’m not a neighbor. I’m the HOA. So what do you do then?” – Dee (04:38)
• Shannon responds with humor and empathy about the complexities and relatable drama of HOAs.

B. Lee’s Story of Grief and Growth (Contains Sensitive Content: Self-Harm)

(05:38 - 10:21)

• Lee, calling from Macedonia, shares a poignant reflection sparked by reconnecting with her college friends after a member’s suicide.
• She describes a “before and after” in life, the boundaries she places around past relationships, and the complexity of needing collective support vs. moving on.
  • “The way that I treat the past is kind of like a wall. Sometimes there’s a door through that wall, sometimes you can climb over it. But I sure as hell am not going to try to do either of those things if you’re not going to meet me halfway.” – Lee (09:57)
• Shannon validates Lee’s experience, noting that “some friends are for a moment in time,” but we always carry their stories.

C. Doyle’s Story of Recovery and Reminders

(10:22 - 13:09)

• Doyle, a longtime listener, shares his journey of addiction recovery. Instead of relapsing, he marks a turning point with a tattoo—a symbol of his struggles.
  • “Now, 20 something years later, I look in the mirror in the morning, and I see that tattoo. And I remind myself that the choices I make today can affect me for the rest of my life.” – Doyle (12:11)
  • He ends with candor: “Who knows, when I retire, I might smoke a little weed.”
• Shannon reflects on the power of symbolism and self-reminders, welcoming different coping methods for life’s challenges: “Whatever works for you, that’s what you do.” (13:04)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Storytelling and Perspective:
  • “Every day is a story is about finding those moments of meaning, everyday life.” – Shannon (01:18)
• On Keeping It Real:
  • “Hey, I’m just me. I’m going to be positive sometimes, and sometimes I’m not going to be positive. Just like you. Like you always smiling and happy all the time. Let’s be real.” – Shannon (01:44)
• On Navigating Past Relationships:
  • “I choose to connect with people who are open for connection.” – Lee (08:59)

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Community Invitation & Closing

(13:10 - End)

• Shannon encourages listeners to share their everyday stories, reminding them that meaning is personal and powerful.
  • “Does the story have meaning to you? Because if it has meaning to you, it’ll touch someone else.”
• He provides contact info for submissions (email, Instagram, Facebook) and notes the importance of personal choice in sharing or staying anonymous.
• Shannon closes with warmth, underscoring the heart of the series:
  • “Remember that every day is a story.” (End)

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Structured Timestamps

| Segment | Description | Timestamp | |---------|-------------|----------------| | Introduction & Philosophy of Storytelling | Shannon discusses his story approach and sets rules | 00:00 – 03:20 | | Listener Story – Dee (HOA) | Dee on her neighbors and leadership challenges | 03:21 – 04:44 | | Listener Story – Lee (Grief, Past Connections) | Lee’s reflection on loss, old friends, and boundaries | 05:38 – 10:22 | | Listener Story – Doyle (Addiction, Tattoos) | Doyle on addiction, symbols, and daily choices | 10:22 – 13:09 | | Invitation to Submit Stories & Closing | Shannon invites more stories, details submission methods | 13:10 – End |

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Tone & Style

• The episode weaves honesty, reflection, vulnerability, and warmth, creating a space where everyday lives are seen as narratively rich and valuable.
• Shannon’s humor, openness to imperfection, and encouragement throughout make the episode approachable and inspiring.

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For listeners and storytellers alike, this episode affirms that meaningful stories are everywhere—if we’re willing to notice and share them.

Transcript

[A]

I love listening to other people's stories, too. Every Day is a story. I'm Shannon Cason. I started Every Day as a story on this homemade podcast feed for a few reasons. I always hear people say, shannon, you have so many stories, but nothing ever happens to me. And I smirk because I don't think much happens to me either. Just being real. It's about perspective and awareness. I'm a student of writers like Raymond Carver and Philip Roth and. What's the guy who wrote the Road? Was his name. Dang, what's his name? McCarthy. McCarthy or something. You know, I'm talking about the guy who wrote the Road. Name skipped my head. And then Walter Mosley. Well, I love Walter Mosley and others. There's many others. But I remember in one of Walter Mosley's writing books, he was talking about adding pedestrian moments of life into his stories or something like that. And I love it when I read books and they mention those kind of moments. Often those are like my favorite moments in the books or interviews or stories that I listen to. So every day as a story is about finding those moments of meaning, everyday life. So I have a few rules that I use with these stories. I have boundaries that spark my creativity. I like boundaries. I used to do this show in Chicago called Paper Machete, and you only had a day to write the story, pretty much, and then you go on stage. So it was like a boundary that would spark my creativity and it'd be a big old crowd there if you know about Paper Machete in Chicago. So these are my rules for every day as a story. The main context is something that happened in the last 24 hours, so I can go anywhere with it. But the last 24 hours is the main spark for the story. And then keep it simple. Nothing perfect. Keep the mistakes in there lightly edited. Use emotional honesty. Hey, I'm just me. I'm going to be positive sometimes, and sometimes I'm not going to be positive. Just like you. Like you always smiling and happy all the time. Let's be real. So. So keep the realness in the stories and also notice moments of meaning. And in my creative stories like that, I'll write. I usually wouldn't say. And the moral of the story is. But this is different. This is. This is more of a practice to me than it is a writing exercise. So I'm fortunate for meaningful moments in every day, and I'll share those moments of meaning. And hopefully those meaningful moments inspire you or inspire others to notice the. The moments in their everyday lives, too. And it has. And I'm going to share a few messages that have come my way. Here are some of the messages that have been shared over the past few weeks. First up is Dee. She listened to the Know Thy Neighbor episode, and she had this to share.

[B]

Hey, Shannon. Good morning. So let's talk about my neighbors. Right? My neighbors definitely speak to me, and I definitely get along with a lot of them, or at least I think I do. Right? But I'm on the board. I'm. I'm on the board, meaning I'm one of the board members. But yet, because I'm the president of the hoa, they don't think about anything else. They only think about, oh, when things are going great, the board is doing wonderful. When things go wrong, Denise messed up. And my point is, neighbors talk to me. They make sure they're really nice to me because they need to. They want to make sure they don't get in trouble. So, yes, I talk to my neighbors, but some of them, I wonder just how sincere they are.

[C]

And.

[B]

And I do. I agree with you. It's great to talk to your neighbors, but they have a hard time balancing and understanding. You know, they think that I'm nice as a person, and. But then when I have to put on my HOA hat and say, hey, I need you to take care of this, this, and this, it's a completely different thing. And it's so frustrating. So to some people, I'm not a neighbor. I'm the hoa. So what do you do then?

[A]

Hoas are funny. I always get a good laugh off of HOAs. I watched some of the HOA posts on TikTok. I don't know if you've seen it, but there's. There's a lot of AI HOA posts, too, that are hilarious. But even the real ones, the real ones are really funny because it's real life. So thank you, D for sharing your story. Another one, Lee W. From Macedonia. Lee is all the way on the other side of the planet. So Lee is a longtime friend of Homemade, and the Facebook request from the past sparked her own story and a little warning here. This story mentioned self harm. So if that's difficult for you right now to listen to, you can stop the episode. But I just wanted to get that warning. And here's Lee.

[C]

I'm in my village called Bardolphsi, and I'm walking my dog, and I'm listening to this bird call. It's probably either a finch or a tit. Oh, it's moving from tree to tree. And what I realized is that I prefer to live in the present moment rather than revisit the past. I recently had to make a Facebook request of somebody from my college days, and it was difficult. I lived my life sort of in a before and after state. And everything that I kind of engaged with before the age of 27

[B]

had

[C]

one specific arc, and everything after, it has a different understanding and a pace. And here's what happened. I learned in December that one of my good university friends had ended his own life. And this was a friend that mattered. This is a friend who would have late night talks with this. This is a friend who, you know, who I really. Who I loved and who was important to my own understanding of who I am. But he was also a friend that I kind of grew out of. When you live life and you are making meaning the. Or searching for meaning and searching for. In my case, I'm searching for the source. When you do that, there are just some things that no longer serve you. And that friendship felt like it had kind of been sucking me dry for a while. And it didn't surprise me that he had chosen to take his own life. You know, Lucy, come here. There's a tractor coming now. You know, I figured it was either heart problems or, you know, suicide. So when I had to reconnect with our group because we kind of had a. We had a group of people all related to our first year dormitory. And when I had to connect them, it. It was different because that connection. The farmer's slowing down now. He's got. He's got a whole thing of dirt that he's carrying and just staring at me talking in my phone. There are some people with whom I can connect because I left things good. It feels safe, it feels nourishing. It feels, you know, supportive. And there are other people with whom I choose to not connect. And so one of those people with a sort of open wound, I had to reach out to, to try to make meaning collectively, because my grief called for this, like, collective honoring of my friend's life. I. I felt the duty as a friend to get our friend group together. And guess what? It didn't happen because nobody else needed that. So I put myself out there and I connected with this person. We never had a phone call. We never actually talked, which is fine with me, because the past is in the past. And when you. When you can leave something like. And I feel today I feel like the circle has closed. You know, I don't need to go back to sources of. Let's say, oh, difficulty. I choose to connect with people who are like, open for connection. And of course I need to carry on with my own life and responsibilities. So the way that I treat the past is kind of like a wall. Sometimes there's a door through that wall, sometimes you can climb over it. But I sure as hell am not going to try to do either of those things if you're not going to meet me halfway.

[A]

Thank you to Lee for sharing her story. That's real. That's real life. We have some lifelong friends and some friends are for a moment in time, like they're for certain moments in life. One thing we always have though is the stories. So thank you, Lee. And here's one from Doyle M. Doyle is a longtime friend, a homemade as well, one of my Patreon supporters. And one of the old episodes like this is before every day is a story. But one of the old episodes sparked a story about his tattoos. And he messaged me and I'm gonna read his story. He say, in my earlier life, I was a fairly heavy drug user. I was able to hold down a job, but I was, and I was fortunate to do that. And in 1993, I put all the drugs down thanks to mandatory drug testing and the fact that I was going to eventually lose my family. And I did really good until 2001 when I started working with a number of people that were users as well. And the more I was around them, the more I was influenced. But I didn't. I didn't. Instead I went and got a tattoo on my chest and it had some significance to my drug days. And I made sure that it was nothing that was too good looking and nothing that I would be proud of. And now, 20 something years later, I look in the mirror in the morning and I see that tattoo. And I remind myself that the choices I make today can affect me for the rest of my life. I'm still clean, but who knows, when I retire, I might smoke a little weed. That's him being real. I like that. I like that. That's, that's Doyle M story. And that's not a bad idea. Doing something like, instead of doing something that'll ruin you forever, go get a tattoo instead. And that stay with you forever too. Whatever. I'm like, I'm like, I have the mindset of like, whatever works. Like, whatever works for you. That's what you do. So thanks to Doyle for sharing his story and for supporting the stories as well. You want to support the stories, go to patreon.com backslash Shannon case definitely need your support. So support the stories. My desire is for every day as a story and homemade to become more and more of a community. So thank everyone for sharing their stories and if you want to share this. But what about you? Did any of my stories bring any of your own stories to mind? Or do you have one that you want to share, like an everyday story that you want to share to inspire someone? Send your stories to me. My email for this project. My email is submit edsmail.com submit eds gmail.com or you can DM me on Instagram or Facebook. I'm at Shannon Casen on Instagram and you can look up my Facebook. Shannon Casein's homemade or something like that. But if you want to stay anonymous, just tell me you'd rather be anonymous and. Or, or I can share your info. I always like to get a choice because some people want to promote some stuff. If you want to share your info in a short bio, you can do that as well. Whatever you like. Send some short everyday stories my way. And what I'm mainly looking for is meaning. It doesn't have to be some fantastical story or some down in the dump story or some wild thing that happened. It can be, you know, if you got them kind of stories, send those. But mostly, does the story have meaning to you? Because if it has meaning to you, it'll touch someone else. Um, so send that and I'll get back to you when I can. I do have a life. I don't respond immediately, but I do respond if. And maybe I'll use it on one of these Friday episodes. On Friday I want to share other people's episodes. You can record it or you can just write it out. Whatever works for you. So that's it for that. I got a lot of stuff to do today and this weekend. I hope you enjoy your weekend and remember that every day is a story. All right, talk to you soon.