Dispatches from the Dopamine Den—January 2026
Shows worth watching, Substack updates, and various miscellany
Last year I tried to write a monthly “column” of sorts called Chelsey Chats. I made it through May and then I didn’t keep up with it once summer started. I’m determined to try again, because sometimes I have things I’d like to share that aren’t enough for a whole post or that don’t fit in anywhere else.
If you’re not sure what the Dopamine Den is, then you can read my post about turning it from a kid bedroom into my favorite room in the house.
Substack Updates
When I first started my Substack, I kept feeling like I needed to figure out the whole “paid subscriber” portion. I ultimately decided I wouldn’t be paywalling any posts because I wanted to make sure this was something I would stick with, and I wanted to make sure I could actually produce content worth reading. I’ve been honored that a few people have become yearly or monthly paid subscribers anyway. That has been hugely encouraging.
Now that I’ve stuck with it for more than a year and feel like I’ve found my groove, I have decided to experiment with the option to put a paywall on posts that are older than a year. That means that at the end of this year, all of my posts from 2025 will be behind a paywall. If you’re new and haven’t read some of my older posts, I hope you’ll consider if you feel like my Substack is worth $5/month. (You could even subscribe for one month, read all the posts, and cancel it. I won’t be upset.)
If you do decide to become and remain a paid subscriber, then you’ll automatically get access to Chelsey’s Grown-Up Summer Reading Guide when it releases in May. It will include a total of 75 books (30 fiction, 30 nonfiction, and 15 Christian/spiritual) that I think are perfect for summer reading. (If you’re not a paid subscriber, you’ll have the option to purchase the summer reading guide separately at a price higher than the monthly subscriber rate. You can also wait and upgrade your subscription when it comes out.)
This feels like a really low-risk way to affirm to myself that the work I put into this is worth something, but I don’t want it to alienate anyone. If the $5/month is too much and you really need access to paywalled posts, please e-mail me!
Reading Updates
I have two fun updates related to books and reading here at Chelsey Crouch Writes. The first is a way for you to see what I’ve read, what I’m reading, and what I hope to read. You can find What I’ve Read at the top of my website.
The database that runs that page is one I developed in Notion. Much like my frustration with planners, none of the established tracking systems track all the things I want to track. I’ve decided to stop tracking my books on Goodreads, Storygraph, or anything else. (One day, I might make my reading log a downloadable Notion template, but that’s a project for future Chelsey.)
The other update is I have an easy way for you to recommend a book for me to read. I’ll be sharing it at the end of my book-related posts, and you can also find the link on the page I shared above. If you already have an idea: Recommend a book!
Watching
It has been a good month for television in our house. Here’s what’s been on our medium-sized screen:
The Pitt (HBO Max) | I’ve already watched Season 1 and am watching each episode of Season 2 as it releases. If you ever watched House and loved it, this show is even more incredible.
Dear Child (Netflix) | Anything I say is a spoiler. Trigger warnings out the wazoo, and I recommend watching it in German with English subtitles. The voices of the people doing the English dubs ruin the show.
Stranger Things (Netflix) | Christian and I watched the first season when it came out, and we’ve watched every season since. We enjoyed our experience watching it, even if we had some ???? about some of the plot and writing choices.
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (Netflix) | I wrote about House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom in March 2025. That book was written by the oldest daughter of the family this show focuses on. In the documentary, Shari Franke is one of the estranged kids (for reasons that will become quite clear in both the book and the film). This is just one of those insane stories that highlights how the desire for fame and money can make people absolutely wacko.
Fallout (Amazon Prime) | Season 2 is out, and we are watching each episode once it comes out. There is a good amount of language and violence and we’re basically talking about a world where people are fighting for survival in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse. It’s not for everyone.
Broadchurch (Netflix) | I watched the first season years ago, but now I am rewatching it with Christian as we’ve decided this is our new show. I’ve been making myself life laugh by saying things like, “Doctor Who, stop being a jerk to Queen Elizabeth!”
Life Updates
This month has felt like it’s gone on forever, hasn’t it? It feels like it’s always that way in January. We rang in the new year with my sister and her boys and my parents in South Carolina, then came back to get back to life as normal.
My youngest sister is pregnant with her first baby, so Zoe (8) and I traveled to South Carolina to help throw her a baby shower with my mom and other sister. Zoe loved getting to be part of a grown-up party and we had a wonderful time catching up with my family.
We had a big milestone in our immediate family as our oldest turned 16 years old. It is hard to believe we’ve been parents that long, but in those 16 years, he has gone from an adorably chunky baby to a curious and precocious preschooler to the kind, mature, and helpful teenager he is today. A lot of days would be a lot harder if he weren’t around.
I made this Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Stuffed Cake and it was incredible. For his birthday present, he wanted to go see all three extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies in theaters. They re-released them in honor of the 25th anniversary of the first movie (I first saw them in high school at the movies with my dad. I AM OLD).
The first night, we saw Fellowship of the Ring and my husband went as well. The Two Towers played on Saturday afternoon, and my friend Anna and her dad, Billy, who is an elder at our church (and is also my friend), went with us. We were supposed to see Return of the King on Sunday afternoon, and we got there and took the picture above while waiting for it to start—but the projector wasn’t working. They rescheduled it for Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Guys, the extended edition is more than 4 hours long. We were just going to write it off. But then we decided we had to finish the trilogy, so he and I went and saw it, got home at almost 1 a.m., and then my husband took over morning duties and we let Stephen skip school so Stephen and I could both sleep in. I needed several days to recover, but it was totally worth it.
ICYMI (January posts)
I know from my Substack dashboard that not everyone opens every email I send, and that’s OK! But if you are reading this one and missed some other posts, here’s what I posted this month:
From the Archives
This post is only available to paid subscribers now, but if you’re someone who has been hurt by the church, I hope you’ll find it encouraging:
Why I Still Love the Church
I am five years old. I open the door to the church library, one of many rooms in a long line of rooms with white cinder block walls. The church librarian, a grandmotherly woman, smiles when she sees me. She stands up and reaches into a tall cabinet and pulls something out. It is a VHS copy of
In Closing
Thank you, as always, for reading. I’d love to know what your January looked like—ups and downs, what you’ve been watching, whether you’ve seen all three LOTR movies, how you feel about cheesecake. Whatever you’d like to share.
My post about what I read in January will be up early next week!
The Lord of the Rings marathon sounds amazing honestly. Getting through all three extended editions in theaters is dedication, especially Return of the King ending past midnight on a weeknight. I did something similar with the Hobbit films back in the day and it was exhuasting but totally worth it for that immersive experience.