- Hyphenly by Immigrantly
- Posts
- This Holiday Season, Don’t Forget to Give Yourself a Gift
This Holiday Season, Don’t Forget to Give Yourself a Gift
Dear Hyphenly Readers,
Can you believe it’s already that time of year? Your streaming services are pushing Hallmark winter movies. Snow is stacking up outside. Mariah Carey is inescapable. And somehow, you’re already thinking about your 2026 resolutions.
If you’re anything like us, the gifting side of the holidays can feel a little tedious. Between nonstop ads and rising costs, it’s hard to justify frivolous purchases or last-minute gag gifts. But here’s the good news: gifts can be an investment. And this season, we’re inviting you to invest in yourself. In this edition, we’re spotlighting apps we genuinely love.
This app is truly a labor of love. After nearly 350 episodes of Immigrantly, Saadia Khan has spent years listening to immigrant stories—the highs, the lows, the uncertainty, and the weight of identity politics. From that experience, Belong On Your Own Terms was born.
Have you ever wanted to start journaling, only to let the habit fall apart (again)? Journaling is proven to reduce anxiety and stress and improve mood and self-image but consistency is hard. Belong meets you where you are. You choose how often you want prompts, and the app gives you flexible space for reflection while using AI to help assess your insights.
Though designed with immigrants in mind, Belong is for anyone navigating identity, growth, and self-discovery. Beyond daily journaling, it offers lesson plans that build your personalized “complexity map”—with 25+ layers that help you move beyond stereotypes and claim your full self. You can track challenges, milestones, social comfort, and more, and even chat with an AI coach anytime.
Phase 1 grounds your identity. Phase 2 explores how media may have flattened it. Phase 3 helps you name and embrace your full complexity. At the center of it all is joy—joy in who you are, where you come from, and what you’re becoming.
If you’ve tried Belong, reply to this email and tell us about your experience. We read every email.
Back in October, we covered Bad Bunny’s SNL hosting and his call for Americans to learn Spanish. It became one of our most-read newsletters—and for good reason. As adults, learning becomes lifelong. Whether it’s for travel, connection, or self-growth, language learning keeps your mind active and your world expansive.
Babbel continues to be rated one of the top apps for learning a language and speaking it confidently. And if this Super Bowl you’d like to fully understand Bad Bunny without subtitles… now’s your sign.
Sophia Smith Galer is a trailblazing journalist who redefined what news can look like on social media and has spent years mastering how to turn expertise into scroll-stopping content. Her award-winning script writing and teleprompter tool writes algorithm-ready video scripts for you, based on your existing work, and gets you filming in minutes with an intuitive in-app teleprompter. If content creation is part of your 2026 goals, this one’s worth exploring.
What apps make your life easier? Do you ever gift apps as holiday presents? Reply to this email and we will share your answers on Instagram.
With gratitude,
Team Hyphenly
Seeking impartial news? Meet 1440.
Every day, 3.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture, all in a brief 5-minute email. Enjoy an impartial news experience.
This newsletter was curated by Suhasini Patni.
Hyphenly curates the latest news, art, and businesses from immigrants around the world. Have a tip or story we should feature? We’d love to hear from you.
Visit us at www.immigrantlypod.com