- Reggie Watts

Celebrations and Endings

Kia ora, 大家好, greetings all.

Just over five years ago, in early 2021, I sent the first subtledream newsletter to a small list of people I mostly knew personally. At the time, I was frustrated with social media - the noise, algorithms, the quick emoji responses standing in for real conversation and human connection. I wanted to write directly to people who choose to receive it, without a platform deciding whether they'd see it. I wanted to maintain real connections across distance. And quietly, I wanted to share what I was making, what I felt at the time I needed to see more of in the world, and perhaps, find a way for this unconventional way of life to be energetically and financially sustainable.

35 editions later, 452 of you are subscribed with an average open rate just above 60%. A successful experiment, I'd say!

And much more than that, the engagement and check-in's from a number of you readers have been truly meaningful and memorable.

Looking back at the archive as I began to write this last edition has been a joy and quite a ride, too. The titles now read like chapters of my life being lived and shared in real time - from the Himalayas to coastal Ecuador, from a custom-built Prius ultra-mini campervan winding through the American West, walking my friend's dogs and eating mole in Oaxaca, México, and finally to Aotearoa New Zealand where I stand and call home now.

The reflections. The global good news that many of you wrote to say you needed. The original creations. The recommendations. Wilderness Within Podcast conversations recorded around campfires and on jungle trails with friends becoming guests and collaborators. All of it flowing through this simple, direct channel: from me to you, threshold by threshold.

Witnessed Shifts

A few months ago, after the 35th edition, I received an email from a longtime reader I first met over a decade ago at a food forest community in Seattle. She wrote, in part:

"I found this newsletter to be amazing on many levels. I haven't commented lately, not because the other newsletters weren't also awesome, but this one truly touched my heart in a refreshing way. I can recognize a huge shift in who you are."

She went on to name things I hadn't announced - the men's inner work, the tribute to my aunt Stella, the shift she could feel even through a screen, across years of occasional connection.

There is something quietly powerful about being seen. Not just for what you create, but for who you are becoming. She named a shift I had been living through from the inside, sometimes in the dark, sometimes unsure if it was even visible from the outside.

That is what this newsletter has been, at its best. A correspondence. A slow, deliberate way of building real relationships across distance, even through emails.

I wrote back and asked if I could send her a postcard. A couple weeks ago, it landed in her mailbox.📮🐌

The Shift Within

I'd rather name it than keep creating from inside a container that no longer fits perfectly.

Over the Easter weekend, I spent two days solo in the ngahere (bush, forest) and recorded my first public film with a significant portion spoken in Cantonese, the language I came into the world hearing and speaking before English arrived and took over. I stumbled in the video, searching for words that don't seem to be there anymore. I freestyled and code-switched through the gaps, as I've done with my family members since immigrating to the US at age 10.

There is grief and shame in this threshold of showing myself like this while feeling like coming home. It's empowering to return to my native language.

I've been signing my name differently. Kai J. Lee 李曉敦. My Chinese name has always been there; I just hadn't given them space in my public creative life, until now. There is definitely more to unpack here.

Adding to that the deepening of my relationship with Jen, the inner work alongside other tāne (men), the facilitating, hosting, and learning in circles rooted in honesty and reciprocity - all of it has been holding up a mirror. What I've seen reflected back is someone for whom "visual storyteller" and "content creator" have become too simplistic. Something else is emerging, and it needs a different vessel.

Letters at Dawn

Subtledream Newsletter is becoming Letters at Dawn.

Letters written at seasonal and lunar thresholds - solstices, equinoxes, Matariki (Māori new year) / lunar new year, full and new moons when something is genuinely alive and needs saying. In English mostly, coloured by Cantonese, rooted in te ao Māori (Māori worldview), carrying the flavours of every place that has shaped me.

No more global good news roundup curated from other sources. No more recommendations section. What remains is what was always the heart of it: the personal reflection and the original creation, woven together. These future letters are written for myself first, then shared with whoever finds their way. I am trusting once again it'll attract the right tribe.

Free letters for any curious minds, just as this newsletter has. And just as I've done with Patreon, which will see its end too, there will be a closer paid circle for those who want to go deeper, sharing the learnings and to participate in collective discussions together - more on this soon.

The First Letter arrives at the next full moon - the evening of 31st May 2026.

I won't give it away entirely. But I will tell(tease) you this: it begins with a story I have never shared publicly. Something that happened just over ten years ago, in the Himalayas, that changed the direction of my life. A promise I made looking up at a night sky from a very precarious place.

*edit: it's out!* 🎉🪅

How to stay in touch

If this newsletter has meant something to you, the next chapter will feel familiar, and I reckon more true.

I'll be migrating those of you subscribed here directly over, so nothing needs to be done by you to stay connected. The archive of subtledream newsletter remains, for now. This is the last edition that will be sent from this platform; big shoutout to Kit for all these years of free publishing.

​Wilderness Within Podcast continues, now to be announced within my Substack and as always, can be accessed on my website. This winter in the southern hemisphere is looking to provide the time and space to properly edit & produce more episodes.

I remain reachable, always, at contact@subtledream.com.

Now, onwards to the last round of original creations, global good news, and recommendations!

Creations

Two major shares.

• "Reclaiming my Voice: A Solo Tramp on Kowhai-Hapuku Circuit, Te Waipounamu South Island, Aotearoa NZ"
  ​Watch the Public version | Patreon extended version (higher resolution & bitrate, too 😉)

​

• "Andy Vantrease - On Following Your Heart, Work as Devotion & the Cyclic Nature of Everything"
  on Wilderness Within Podcast | Tune in on: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | Castbox | RSS | Pandora | iHeartRadio​

Good news

Go on, dive into a different world yourself.

These have been my best sources for years:

• ​FixTheNews Substack (previously Future Crunch)
• ​GoodGoodGood Co​
• Jenn aka 'The Good News Girl' on YouTube | Insta | FB | That Good Newsletter Substack​
• ​Sam Bentley on YouTube | LinkedIn | Insta | FB​

And the best of the best since the last edition:

Global Health Wins

• Global under-five mortality has plummeted by 60% since 1990, with India achieving a 79% reduction in its rate.
• Australia now reports zero cervical cancer in women under 25, thanks to its national HPV vaccination program (Source: BBC).
• Conflict-affected Sudan and South Sudan have eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus (Source: UNICEF).
• Tunisia is the 31st country to eliminate trachoma, a blinding disease, as a public health problem (Source: WHO).
• Pakistan launched a national hepatitis C elimination program, offering free screening and treatment for five million people by 2027.

Environmental & Climate Momentum

• Global deforestation is slowing, with Brazil's forest loss falling by 42% in 2025 (Source: Agência Brasil).
• China’s EV adoption cut air pollution (PM2.5) by 23.8%, preventing 262,000 premature deaths across 150 cities (Source: Nature).
• India is accelerating its clean energy transition, aiming to quadruple solar capacity and triple wind power by 2035.
• US river restoration reached a high in 2025, with over 100 dams removed, reconnecting 7,900 km of waterways (Source: NYT).
• Conservation wins: Argentina’s Iberá wetlands saw the 50th wild jaguar cub birth, and Mexico’s monarch butterfly population rebounded by 64% (Source: The Guardian).
• Ocean protection efforts are gaining ground: 40 countries now back a moratorium on deep-sea mining (Source: Oceanographic).

Social & Economic Progress

• Teenage pregnancy rates fell sharply worldwide, including a 76% decline in Central and South Asia since 1990 (Source: Our World in Data).
• Global terrorism deaths dropped to their lowest in two decades, continuing a long-term downward trend.
• The European Parliament backed a major win for LGBTQ+ rights with an EU-wide ban on conversion therapy (Source: Washington Blade).
• Botswana formally deleted colonial-era laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy from its Penal Code.
• Access to essential health services expanded to cover 567 million more people globally since 2018; sub-Saharan primary school completion hit 68% (Source: WHO’s 2025 report).

What I am reading, (re)learning, integrating

Much to learn, relearn, and integrate.

Here are my recommendations from recent months:

• "​Shaolin Master’s Guide to Self-Mastery & Inner Stability" André Duqum and Shi Heng Yi on Know Thyself​
• "Courage to be Disliked" by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi
• "The End of Your World" by Adyashanti

Gratitude

I don't always know who's reading or watching, and lately this matters less and less. What matters to me more than ever is that I stand behind what I put out. My truths. Proud moments and challenging ones too. The mystery and the mundane. I trust that there may be value for whoever finds their way here.

If you're new: 歡迎。Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome.

If you've been here from the beginning: it's so beautiful and an honour to be witnessed by you. 🙏🏽

Tēnā koe, 多謝你, thank you for being Reader.

-Kai J. Lee 李曉敦