🧃Joyful Juice: May🧃

Each month we bring together the things sustaining us — what we're reading, who we're learning from, what's keeping us going. Whether you've been part of The Joyful Activists community for a while or you've just found us, we're glad you're here.

Things to read, watch or listen to

• The Beautiful Trouble toolbox illustrates the key tactics, principles, methodologies, theories and stories that have inspired centuries of people-powered victories. Check it out here

  
  

• One of our lovely community members Nayla wrote a think piece about The Codification of Gender Apartheid under International Law. Read it here

• 1 in 10 people have endometriosis. Perhaps you're the one in ten, or if not it's likely that you know someone affected. If you'd like to learn more about it, watch the BAFTA award-winning documentary This Is Endometriosis here

• Have you heard of 7 types of rest? Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith created a framework of 7 types: physical, emotional, sensory, creative, spiritual, mental and social. Take a quiz to find out what type of rest you're most in need of right now, here

• I recently discovered Honey Bunch of Onion Tops on Instagram, a page full of vegan & gluten-free recipes, an inclusive microbakery, creative non-fiction & soothing videos. Check it out here

Words to live by

Communities, courses and wellbeing resources

• Have you heard of Seeds of Change? Their website is full of resources offering training, meeting facilitation and online resources on collective organising, developing your strategy, campaign and action skills, setting up groups, consensus decision making, running co-ops, and training for trainers. Take a look here

• Activist Handbook write guides for activists. Learn how to become an activist, plan a political campaign strategy, and start a grassroots movement - all while not burning out. Check it out here

• Our lovely friend Yasmeen founded Amphi Botanicals as nutritionist who saw a gap between modern science and holistic wellness. Growing up with the herbal traditions of a Palestinian/Syrian family in Lebanon, and later earning a BSc in Nutrition, Yasmeen set out to create a brand that blends both worlds: evidence and ancestry, science and soul. The blends are delicious, my favourite is the Defend blend! Read more about their ethos and choose your botanicals here

Journal prompts

Grief doesn't move in a straight line, and it doesn't always look the way we expect it to. It might be the loss of a person, or it might be something harder to name — a future you'd hoped for, the world as it was or could have been, the weight of caring deeply about things that feel out of your control. These prompts aren't about processing or moving on, just a gentle invitation to sit with what is, and let yourself be exactly where you are.

1. Am I grieving anything right now?

Not just the obvious loss, but everything that came with it. A future you'd imagined, a version of yourself, a way life used to feel, or a world you're fighting for. What has quietly shifted that you haven't yet had words for?

2. Where am I being hard on myself about how I'm grieving?

   
   

There's no right way to do this. But most of us have a voice that says we should be further along, or feeling something different, or being stronger than we are. What would it mean to offer yourself the same compassion you'd offer someone else carrying this?

3. What does this grief say about what I'm still holding onto, and why that matters?

Grief only lives where love and hope have been. What does the depth of what you're feeling tell you about what you still believe in, or about what you're not ready to give up on? Let that be something to carry forward, not just something to mourn.

Join our community

1. Look after yourself with us by joining our virtual workshops here

2. Book us to facilitate a workshop about mental health, wellbeing and joy in your organisation here

3. Share this blog with your communities

4. Working on something cool? Email us so we can include it in a future edit of Joyful Juice

5. Talk to us, our inbox is open! katy@thejoyfulactivists.com