January 2025 Highlight Reel

Thank you for the wonderful memories! 💖

Jan 31, 2025

time lapse photography of fireworks at night — Photo by Roven Images on Unsplash

It’s the last day of January! I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the past month and be grateful for all the blessings I received 💖

I plan to make this a monthly routine so that by the end of December, I can sum it all up into a 2025 Highlight Reel (similar to what I did for last year).

In this post, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite memories on Substack and the most heartwarming comments I received this January 🥰

🌠 Substack Memories

#1 - 01.13.2025 - Face Reveal 📸

When I joined Substack last November, I was too shy to reveal my face so I used a cartoon illustration as my profile photo.

After spending time on this platform and meeting such a wonderful community, I finally found the courage to go out of my shell and reveal my face 🐢 For me, this is a huge step towards facing my fears and improving myself 🥹

I thought some of you might not recognize me if I suddenly changed my photo so I made an announcement through our Subscriber Chat and this note:

I had so much fun conversing with everyone in the comments 😄💗

#2 - 01.17.2025 - Got my first hate comment on Substack 😅

Getting a hate comment out of the blue was quite a shock—especially on Substack, of all places! At first, I kept it to myself, but it still weighed on me so I decided to write a note about it:

Other Substack writers began sharing their own experiences in the comments, while some offered words of encouragement and support.

A few lifted my spirits with their witty replies—

Mark

even created a Substack Bingo game that instantly made my day! 🤣

I love how this negative experience turned into something positive, all thanks to this wonderful community 💟

#3 - 01.20.2025 - Celebrated My 2nd Substack Monthsary 🥳

For me, milestones aren’t just about hitting a certain number of subscribers—it’s also worth celebrating my Substack monthsary to document my growth 🎉

It’s amazing to see how much progress I’ve made in just my first 2 months ✨
I still have a lot to improve, but it’s nice to celebrate these small wins to keep me motivated in my journey 💪🏻

💌 Comments That Touched My Heart

I was inspired by this note from

Chris Anselmo

to take a screenshot of the compliments and nice messages I’ve received:

It’s so nice to look back on past conversations and interactions I’ve had with everyone over the past month 😊

The following comments were especially heartwarming! 💗
Thank you so much

, and

🥹✨

There’s a lot more that I would love to add, but this post would be too long! 🫠

Thank you so much everyone for all the kind comments and messages you send me! I treasure all our conversations and interactions 💕

✨ Alea’s Cabinet of Curiosities

This time, I’d like to share something new—my favorite music! 🎼

In case you didn’t know, I’m from the Philippines and we Filipinos love music—both local and international. We enjoy songs in English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and other languages, but we also take great pride in our own music!

If you haven’t tried listening to OPM (Original Philippine Music) or P-Pop (Pinoy Pop) yet, I’d love to take this opportunity to share some of my favorite songs from my January playlist 🎶 I chose feel-good and chill songs to lift your mood 💛

🎵 ‘Marilag’ (Magnificent) by Dionela

If you’re into R&B, you’ll appreciate Dionela’s songs! I chose this live performance because it beautifully captures how much Filipinos love music 🎵

It always warms my heart to hear the crowd singing along with the artist and to witness how music brings us together 🥹💖

🎵 ‘Day and Night’ by Alamat

Alamat is my favorite P-pop group because of their beautiful mission of promoting Filipino culture through their craft 🤎

The members come from different regions of the country and sing in various Philippine languages. Day and Night is in Tagalog and Bisaya, but some of their other songs feature up to 8 different regional languages!

Aside from that, they also incorporate Philippine traditional and modern cultural elements in their fashion, choreography, iconography, and music video concepts~

For example, this particular song is inspired by the Magindara, a mermaid-like creature in Bicolano mythology 🧜🏻‍♀️(You can turn on CC for English subtitles)

🎵 ‘Bughaw’ (Blue) by Maki

This song has been on repeat ever since I first heard it—it’s my go-to whenever I need a mood boost! 😊⚡

Maki is one of my newest favorite singer-songwriters, and I love how creative he is with his music. He always incorporates themes into his songs, and his latest one revolves around colors. His previous hits include Dilaw (yellow) and Namumula (red), and now he’s back with Bughaw (blue) 💙

(It reminds me of Ed Sheeran’s math-themed albums! ➕✖️➗🟰➖)

Did you vibe with any of these songs? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts~ 🎵

Feel free to share some song recommendations in your own language too!
I always love our cultural exchanges 🥰