Carving out a new chapter :: Substack Diaries :: Vol. 16

January 2025 recap and numbers

January was a big one.

One of our daughters is starting her dream job in February—nine hours away. And our youngest? She finished high school, decided to take a gap year, and is following her sister. They both moved out at the end of the January. Just like that, at 48, we are officially empty nesters. There was a roller of emotions before they left - mourning the end of 24 years of hands on parenting and saying goodbye to these amazing girls - but we are just so happy and excited about the adventures they have ahead of them.

Oh, and January was also our 25 year wedding anniversary. After we dropped the girls off, my husband and I went on a holiday to celebrate our anniversary—just the two of us. And honestly? It was the best thing we could have done. It felt like the start of something new, a chance to rediscover us, and I swear we’re closer now than we’ve ever been.

It’s a strange feeling, this new chapter. It’s got me really sitting with the question: What do I want now?

I don’t know about you, but something about the start of a new year makes me reflect on all the things I’ve wanted to do but haven’t. And honestly? It’s time to start doing them. Even if they’re uncomfortable. Even if they’re a little scary. Because, let’s be real—there’s always something more “urgent” that pushes those dreams aside.

But this month, I decided—what if I just did them? Unsure and imperfectly.

A lot of the dreams have to do with Substack, so watch this space, I will keep you up to date with all the things!

What about you? Has January been a time of reflection?

Things I tried:

• Had a 3 week break. I took a 3-week break from my newsletter and chat (Dec 21–Jan 10), and it felt so good—no posts, no pressure, just rest.

  Last year, I just started writing consistently and didn’t want to take a break, but this time, I really leaned into taking a timeout and followed what felt right for me. Interestingly, the break led to some creative breakthroughs!

  

• I created my first free e-booklet. You know my Gentle Reset—that 7-day process I do to recalibrate? I finally turned it into a little booklet so others can follow along too. It’s a rough first draft, but I’m glad I got it out there.

• I created a reader survey and gave away my art. I wanted to sanity check some Substack ideas for 2025. Four lovely people filled it out my survey, and as a thank you, I sent them a lockscreen illustration I drew (due to a glitch, I missed getting one person’s email address, if that’s you please DM me!).

  

  The survey’s super quick, if you have the time, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts!

What I learned:

• I learned A LOT in January, so I put it all in a Fav Five post.

  • How to customise your publication’s text-to-speech voice (the default is a male voice!)

  • How to customise your Substack experience

    • A workaround to bypass the stats on your dashboard

    • A workaround to bypass Notes on your Substack App

    • A workaround to make sure you see Notes from people you Follow, not just anyone

  • How to do Lives

  • How to customise emails to your subscribers (including renewal and expiring emails for paid subscriptions)

  • How to see the top publications and trending posts in your country

What I’m struggling with:

• Thinking about starting a new publication. I’ve wanted to create a private, supportive space for women who sometimes feel like everyone else has it together but their life is a bit of a mess, they are creative and sometimes feel like they still haven’t figured out what they want to do when they “grow up”, or they have ideas they can’t execute. After going back and forth, I’ve decided to make it a separate space for like-minded women and have it super intentional. I thought I would share my process of starting a new Substack publication.

  I was thinking about taking you along via videos - my daughter has some spare time and I might enlist her on doing the video editing for me.

  I’m a bit nervous, but maybe having you come along on the ride will make it more fun and help me get it done!

A new year, a new layout!

I have loved taking you on my journey of starting musings by mika, including all the numbers. I started Substack Diaries after being on Substack for 8 months with 7 subscribers.

Thank you so much for joining me and supporting this wee publication.💕

Here’s the numbers for this month:

Here’s the numbers since I created musings by mika in April 2023:

✍️ Let me know in the comments: How was January for you? Did you take a break over December/January?

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Want to read what happened before?

December 2024: What a difference a year makes

November 2024: A year on from the month that changed everything

October 2024: Why I'm keeping musings by mika free

September 2024: Why showing up matters in our creative journey

August 2024: Unexpected delights

July 2024: Why numbers don’t tell the whole story

June 2024: The impact of recommendations

May 2024: How May became a month of transformation

April 2024: One year on Substack (kind of)

March 2024: The power and pressure of celebrating milestones

February 2024: Dashboard detox: Avoid the ups and downs of subscriber growth

January 2024: How the heck did I jump from 27 to 180 subscribers?!

December 2023: What do you do if you're not growing as fast as others?

November 2023: The turning point: Resurrecting and restarting my Substack

April 2023: Did I just have a mini meltdown from setting up Substack?