Hi Friends,
On Jan 19
Team announced a new tab in Stats that shows writers where subscribers are located around the world. I was truly shocked to learn that the Midweek Crisis is read across 42 countries and 27 different US states! 🤯With butterflies in my stomach, I studied the map closely and many times. It honestly hadn't occurred to me before that someone in New Zealand or South Korea might be reading these things I’ve been writing in Warsaw, Poland 🇵🇱. It's so damn cool to visualize your words reaching people across the globe!
On Thinking Globally 🌐
I remember all these emotional talks with my dear husband Tomek when he tried to convince me to start a newsletter in English rather than Polish. At first, I wasn’t convinced it was a good idea. Writing in a foreign language seemed scary, and too far out of my comfort zone. It seemed surreal in my mind that anybody out there in a wide wide world would be interested in music recommendations by an insignificant human being from Poland.
What really has spoken to me was this image of breaking from a tight bubble of polish-speakers and reaching a worldwide audience, thereby increasing the chances of being heard. The English language is a powerhouse, spoken by a whopping 1.5 billion people across the globe! That made me wonder, and finally after many days of overthinking, self-battles, and postponing I decided to try it out and write the very first issue of the Midweek Crisis in English.
As you can see, it clicked well, and we’re here, 45 issues later. Being able to broaden my reader base outside my circle of friends and family feels incredibly rewarding. Writing each issue is fun for me. But the best moments are when we’re connecting with each other. All your likes and comments tend to move me, motivating me to keep showing up. Thanks for being here, folks!
Appreciation Time
So today I’m sending a special thanks and a huge dose of good energy towards:
these 4 awesome subscribers from Algeria 🇩🇿
these 5 amazing people from Australia 🇦🇺
that 1 great reader from Bangladesh 🇧🇩
that 1 super person from Bosnia & Herzegovina 🇧🇦
these 6 cool readers from Brazil 🇧🇷
these 9 marvelous people from Canada 🇨🇦
that 1 awesome person from Chile 🇨🇱
that 1 dope reader from Colombia 🇨🇴
that 1 cool human from the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴
these 2 fantastic people from Germany 🇩🇪
that 1 fabulous human from Hungary 🇭🇺
these 16 great people from India 🇮🇳
these 3 lovely readers from Indonesia 🇮🇩
these 4 exceptional subscribers from Italy 🇮🇹
that 1 wonderful human from Ireland 🇮🇪
that 1 marvelous person from Jamaica 🇯🇲
that 1 cool reader from Malta 🇲🇹
that 1 awesome subscriber from Mexico 🇲🇽
these 15 amazing people from Morocco 🇲🇦
these 4 fantastic readers from New Zealand 🇳🇿
that 1 dope human from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
that 1 fabulous person from Norway 🇳🇴
that 1 exceptional reader from Pakistan 🇵🇰
these 2 wonderful subscribers from the Philippines 🇵🇭
these 11 super people from Poland 🇵🇱
these 3 marvelous readers from Portugal 🇵🇹
that 1 awesome human from Romania 🇷🇴
that 1 great subscriber from Serbia 🇷🇸
that 1 fantastic person from South Africa 🇿🇦
these 2 amazing readers from South Korea 🇰🇷
these 3 lovely people from Spain 🇪🇸
that 1 exceptional human from Switzerland 🇨🇭
that 1 wonderful subscriber from Taiwan 🇹🇼
these 2 fabulous readers from Thailand 🇹🇭
that 1 marvelous person from Turkey 🇹🇷
these 22 cool people from the UK 🇬🇧
that 1 great subscriber from the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪
these 110 awesome readers from the US 🇺🇸
that 1 fantastic human from Vietnam 🇻🇳
and all those of you who somehow didn’t appear on my Stats - you’re also the best 🫶Let me know where you’re reading it from:
Also huge thanks to my husband Tomasz! I feel very lucky and grateful for having such a supportive and witty life companion as him.
Last Sunday for my bday (lvl up to 32! 🥳) he gave me this awesome book called "Steal Like An Artist" by Austin Kleon. There was this one chapter in which the author says:
"Relationships are hard enough, but it takes a real champion of a person to be married to someone who’s obsessed with a creative pursuit. Lots of times you have to be a maid, a cook, a motivational speaker, a mother, and an editor - all at once.
A good partner keeps you grounded.”
With Tom, we’re in a situation in which both sides are creatively obsessed, but in slightly different areas. Stimulating and inspiring each other is a big part of our life together as well as being a rock to one another 🪨✨🪨. We’re both very emotional and needy, so it leaves almost no place for boredom. Working from home, sharing a workspace, and running a business together (thecode.xyz) isn't that easy. Sure, sometimes it’s tough to function in, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Love you so much
! 😘*As it turns out is a fellow Substacker, and you can sign up for his newsletter here:
Recommendations
Ever since Substack introduced the Recommendations feature last year, the number of subscriptions to the Midweek Crisis increased significantly.
There are 259 of us here already!
Huge thanks to all the fellow authors who recommended me and this newsletter - it’s an honor to grow together with you 🌱📈🌳
📚 Books on GIF by
💿 On Repeat by Kevin Alexander by
🍿 Salty Popcorn by
🌫️ Fog Chaser by
🎧 Listening Sessions by
🥗 VeganWeekly by
🕰️ Time Travel Kitchen by
🥨 Snack and Destroy by
🦜 The Story Birds by
☺︎ Three Small Smiles by
👻 A Ghost In A Post by
☁️ Arianna’s Substack by Alex
I urge you to check out the newsletters above - they’re all full of different flavors, and written with passion, humor, and unique style 👌
ICYMI
There’s no playlist made especially for today, but I can recommend you a few that you may have missed:
stimulus cumulus ☁️ - with stimulative music for better focus and creativity (brain power boosters)
2☺︎23 - an energetic playlist with mostly fresh, danceable tunes
Home Office Music - with non-invasive sounds to help you get your work done
All of them are being updated from time to time and will be all year round, so be sure to save them.
*Also, if you haven’t already, you can give me a follow on Spotify
**And if you’re not a Spotify user and you’d like me to start including YouTube playlists - let me know!
And that’s all for now, folks!
Have a great start to February.
Hugs,
Stygi
So many things I want to say! First - happy belated birthday!! May the year ahead bring you everything you wish for yourself and a couple of happy surprises from life, too. :) Second - thank you SO much for the shoutout!! I really appreciate it. Third - Congratulations on your international success!! I am so happy to know that your words are reaching so many. I always look forward to seeing your newsletter pop into my inbox and wish you continued worldwide growth!!
Happy belated birthday!
Thank you for including me here. That really means a lot to me. Happy to be one of your US readers! :)