This week, we lost Catherine O’Hara — and if you’re anywhere near my age, she’s been part of pop culture for a lifetime.
And it starts with Kevin’s mom.
The impeccably dressed, jet-setting, keep-up-with-the-Joneses mother who had everything dialed…until she made the biggest mistake imaginable and left her kid Home Alone. Fear😱
Decades later, she gave us Moira Rose — a character who lost everything and somehow found herself, and her family, in the wake, loud, awkward, and unapologetic. 🌹
Catherine O’Hara’s characters gave us permission to be human — imperfect, expressive, ridiculous, and still deeply lovable.
Sounds a lot like what we try to do around here, eh? 😉
This week's newsletter is inspired by a woman who showed us what reinvention, humanity, and self-trust actually look like.
May we all be so fortunate.
Here are seven not-so-Schitty tips to kick off your week (and your month)!
1️⃣ Sometimes Reinvention Starts After Everything Falls Apart
If you haven’t watched Schitt’s Creek, A. put it on your list ASAP. B. It is one of the most incredible exhibits of character arcs, reinvention, and what happens when we start looking at life with the attitude of what IF instead of what if…
This also happens to be the entire foundation of Scary Good: Discovering Life Beyond the Sunday Scaries, so if you’re not up for watching six seasons of great television, you can grab a 272-page book and get a lot of the same messages. 😀
At the end of the day, we know life will never be perfect. We can let loss strip away identity, status, and certainty, or we can look at it as a choice.
💡 Lesson: Reinvention isn’t a detour — it’s often the real beginning.
2️⃣ Being “Different” Is Only a Problem Until It’s an Asset
Moira Rose.
Her accent. Her wardrobe. Her wall of wigs.
Everything about Moira Rose is ridiculous on some level (and Catherine O’Hara plays it brilliantly). Most people thought her a laughing stock who couldn’t be taken seriously, but she knew her value.
So did the dude who asked to be the spokesperson for their wine. 😂
💡 Lesson: Not everyone needs to understand you because someone will need exactly you. 🦄
3️⃣ Humor Is a Legitimate Coping Strategy
Catherine O’Hara didn’t use humor to avoid reality — she used it to survive it.
Her characters aren’t funny because they’re detached. They’re funny because they’re deeply in it. Loss, failure, embarrassment, uncertainty. None of it is glossed over.
We don’t usually crack jokes because things are fine. We crack jokes because things are not fine, and humor keeps us from disappearing inside the discomfort. It’s a way to stay present when life gets awkward, painful, or absurd.
There’s a difference between humor that numbs and humor that keeps you engaged.
🫶 Catherine O’Hara mastered the latter.
💡 Lesson: Laughter doesn’t mean you’re not taking life seriously; it means you’re choosing to stay human while you do.
4️⃣ You Don’t Have to Be Subtle to Be Grounded
Moira Rose is dramatic, emotional, expressive — and also deeply self-aware.
Somewhere along the way, we decided that being “grounded” meant being quiet, understated, and controlled. But groundness isn’t about how loud you are (or aren’t). It’s about how present you are in any given situation.
You can be loud and thoughtful.
You can be expressive and intentional.
You can be quiet and deeply engaged.
Just because someone processes externally doesn’t mean they lack depth. And just because someone processes internally doesn’t mean they’re disengaged.
Different nervous systems, different styles — same capacity for wisdom.
💡 Lesson: Regulation doesn’t require shrinking (or expanding); it requires knowing yourself.
5️⃣ Losing Status Can Clarify Values
Home Alone. Schitt’s Creek. Beetlejuice.
Same pattern — different decades.
Catherine O’Hara plays characters who had it all together on paper: money, status, image, momentum, until a catastrophic disruption (yes, as outlandish as a dead guy living in your new house) snaps priorities back into focus.
👉 When the status quo changes, we’re forced to look at things differently. To ask different questions.
It’s no longer “How do I look?”
It’s more like: “What actually matters here?”
💡 Lesson: When the image fades, values step forward.
6️⃣ Second Acts Aren’t a Consolation Prize
We hear a lot about ageism in the workplace today.
😵💫Heck, everywhere you look, people are trying to look, act, and be younger (in a move that often backfires), but here she is. Catherine O’Hara, and her most iconic role came decades into her career–– in her 60’s!
You’re never too late. It is never too late. Start the business, change the job, go on the vacation because, as is also evident in the inspiration to this week’s Sunday Scaries, we never know how much time we have.
💡 Lesson: It’s never “too late” to matter. You are right on time.
7️⃣ Being Human Is the Assignment
Catherine O’Hara never played characters who had it all figured out, but she played characters who showed up anyway (with an appropriate level of humor to weather the storm).
That’s the thread. That’s the legacy.
And it’s also the truth behind the Sunday Scaries.
They’re not asking you to optimize, perfect, or outperform yourself. They’re asking you to notice. To feel. To respond honestly instead of powering through on autopilot.
Being human isn’t a detour from a meaningful life.
It is the path into confidence and contentment.
💡 Lesson: The Sunday Scaries aren’t asking you to be better — they’re asking you to be yourself.
If life feels like s like a little bit of Schitt right now, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. There are ups and downs to life. That’s a fact, but it doesn’t mean you can't pick yourself up, ditch what isn’t working, and make room for what will.
Here’s to reinvention, humor, second acts, and being human on purpose.
RIP Catherine O’Hara
Your Friend and Coach,
Angie
