Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary England.
Hi Mary, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I started my own business to inspire self-love through creativity and Merriment, after leaving my job at a psychiatric rehab center after five years. My own mental illnesses had consumed me, and I decided to take control, which at the time looked like starting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and a dedicated gratitude practice. Over time, I started to see space left in my mind.
That space made me realize I didn’t need to be a walking symptom, and I could use the time where I might have taken an hour in the bathroom for an OCD ritual, I could create something with my hands. So I did! I started creating things, feeling better, and spreading joy. These are all things I did as a kid. I started documenting it, and that blog ultimately led to the business I bring you today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been smooth! I think most people’s roads are not smooth.
In terms of my challenges, I struggled with gaining weight (over 100 pounds) as a side effect of my medication for my mental illnesses. I’ve been in abusive and codependent relationships. I’ve dealt with drug addiction as a coping mechanism. I’ve also had suicide attempts.
In general, I would say believing in my own business and brand has been a huge struggle as well. I’ve wanted to throw the towel in on Uncustomary so many times, and I’m so glad I didn’t. It’s really hard to be a company that is your face and your name.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Uncustomary?
I’m Uncustomary. I’m the Queen of Merriment Making.
Merriment Making is a concept I have pioneered and teach as a way to express self-love in a joyful way. Simply put, it is to embody, create, and share joy.
There are a million ways to teach self-love, and the reason people like learning it from me is that I am a practical optimist, meaning I do believe in your wildest dreams, but I also want to be real about what’s happening today.
I approach things from an angle of non-assumption, meaning I acknowledge I do not know your whole story or realm of abilities, therefore my advice will come from a place of understanding we all have things that can potentially hold us back or not fall in line with the rest, and that’s okay.
I am authentically joyful and colorful online and in person. My life, home, mind, and world is rainbow disco flowerbed and I am who you think I am.
I want people to know that when they work with me, my primary goal is to help you achieve what I did in your own way in a shorter time. I don’t want you to experience 10 years of pain to learn a lesson if I can break it down into a chapter, that would be selfish! My genuine desire is to share what I have learned so that people can feel good about themselves and their lives.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I will tell anyone and everyone I meet to start a gratitude practice as soon as this sentence is over. I also generally find that the things we resist the most are the things we actually need the most.
For example, when I first heard about EFT/Tapping I sat on it for many years. I thought it was too “woo” or something. It wouldn’t work, not for me. Today it is the number one tool I use for shadow work and I recommend it to all of my clients, students, and friends.
Contact Info:
- Email: mary@uncustomary.org
- Website: https://uncustomary.org
- Instagram: uncustomarylove
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncustomary
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MaryEngland
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/5XRoFFyj9U1kI7qX6TDd13?si=a9f5b381add34d84
