Day 4- Just Call Me "Fists of Justice"

Send us a text

Welcome to DAY FOUR of our new 30-day project where we make something with our hands every day to improve mental health during difficult times. We all realize that creativity heals...it's time to put that knowledge into action.

I'm going to publish an episode to follow along with several days of each week (I'll take breaks on Fridays and weekends in order to give you time to catch up as needed). These episodes will exist here, marked with the days numbered, in order for you to follow along at any speed that you like. Miss a day? Doesn't matter. Just pick up right where you left off and keep making things. These episodes will give us all some accountability, but if you need more, pair up with a partner. It really does help!

Join our creative community by making something today, whether it's for five minutes or several hours—your brain will thank you. Let's do this thing together and turn all of this sh*t into something beautiful!

Follow LeAnna and Curating the Curious:

NEW! Substack Link

Instagram: @curating.the.curious
@leanna_azzolini_photography
Website:
leannaazzoliniphoto.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
between stimulus and response.
There is a space.
In that space is our power tochoose our response.
In our response lies our growthand our freedom.
Victor E Frankel.
I chose this quote today becauseI had to remove myself from

(00:22):
social media once again.
This is not my first time andit probably won't be my last,
but this quote in total issomething that has been a
recurring lesson in my life.
I would say, if this podcast iswhere I come to speak after I
have taken that space in betweenthe stimulus and response in

(00:45):
order to speak calmly on a topic, then my Instagram stories are
where I scream from the rooftopsabout all of the injustice
taking place in the world andall the things that I'm angry
about, and you need to look atthis and watch this video.
It is not helpful.
I realize that, and I know thatI do try to post only valuable

(01:11):
information.
That I know is true and I trynot to finger point when I do it
, but regardless, it's not ahealthy behavior and I had to
put a stop to it several daysago and I gave myself a few days
in between recording these justto calm myself back down and

(01:32):
get to a place to where I shouldbe recording episodes.
So that's where I'm at rightnow.
There's another quote, and thatis when you become reactive, get
curious.
There is a wound that iswaiting to be healed.
This is also another recurringlesson that I've been paying
very close attention to as oflate.

(01:54):
I've worked for years on myreactivity, trying to be less
reactive and taking that time inbetween and taking that time in
between.
However, I'm human and I do getstirred up by things.
If I'm being honest, humanrights will take me to the edges
of my sanity when I see humanrights being taken away from

(02:18):
people day by day.
So this is a wound that iswaiting to be healed.
I've been very reactive.
I've also just been engaging intoo much social media too many
videos of people being kidnappedoff of the streets by men in
masks and while their familiesare screaming and watching

(02:43):
children in Gaza, and just toomuch.
It's not healthy.
No human being is made to takein that much information, and I
know that.
So this episode is probablymore appropriate for anyone who
relates with me and has a strongsense of justice sensitivity

(03:06):
and that is a real term.
The actual definition of justicesensitivity refers to the
tendency to perceive and reactnegatively to any form of
perceived injustice, bothexperienced personally and
observed in others.
This sensitivity can sometimesmanifest as anger, resentment or

(03:27):
a strong desire to rightperceived wrongs.
Nailed it Anyone who knows mewill tell you I have a very,
very strong personality trait.
I guess you would call it ofjustice sensitivity.
I once heard Melissa McCarthy Ithink it was on Armchair say

(03:50):
that her friends call her Fistsof Justice because she's like
that, and I was like that's mynew nickname Fists of Justice,
that's me.
So it's a thing.
It's commonly linked with peoplewho have been diagnosed with
ADHD and or autism and I seethat.

(04:13):
I see that connection for sure.
But I also see a giantconnection between justice
sensitivity and being a traumasurvivor, mainly a trauma
survivor with unhealed trauma,mainly a trauma survivor with
unhealed trauma, ptsd that'sstill lurking in the background.
You know different symptoms.

(04:33):
You name it and actually,according to Gabor Mate, adhd is
a stress response and it's nota condition that you're born
with.
It's your body's response totrauma.
People vary on their opinionson that, but I feel pretty
strongly that there's somethingto that, at least for me

(04:53):
personally.
But I'm not a licensedtherapist.
I just wanted to bring that up.
In case there's anybody outthere who is repeatedly exposing
themselves to news or videos oryou know things that are really
disrupting your mental health,I'm going to invite you to join

(05:16):
me in staying away from socialmedia for a good while.
Right now I'm in the beginningstages and I've been off of
social media for several days,but already I feel like a
different person and, I have tobe honest, it was affecting me

(05:36):
greatly, greatly, and I knowit's happening to so many people
out there.
We will get to the project partof this, I promise, but I just
thought this was very importantto cover right now.
So, for anyone who is in thisboat, like me, and is kind of
being re-traumatized over andover again by watching videos,

(06:01):
news, you know, hearing aboutall of the atrocities going on
in the world, I recommend you tolook into Dr Judith Lewis
Herman.
She wrote a book called Traumaand Recovery back in 1992, which
I haven't read.
I was listening to her talk ona podcast.
It was about her newest book,which was released in 2023, and

(06:26):
it's called Truth and Repair.
Now, this book covers what I'vebeen getting at this whole time.
Truth and Repair is partmanifesto and part, exploration
of what justice truly means forsurvivors of trauma and abuse.
And after just one hour ofreading Truth and Repair.

(06:47):
And after just one hour ofreading Truth and Repair,
everything seemed to finallycome together for me Like a
light bulb went off in my brain.
Whether you read this book ornot, if you are taking in things
every day and it is hurtingyour mental health, you have to
stop.
That's it.
But being the social justicewarrior that I am, I'm not going

(07:09):
to just turn a blind eye to allof this.
I'm still going to stay on topof things Once I get settled.
I'm starting to feel like mynervous system is settling down
and I can take things in.
Once you get to that point, Irecommend reading news only.
So here are my top threesources of news that I can

(07:32):
highly recommend, who alsodeliver it without all of the
emotion that can get you stirredup.
Number one is Heather CoxRichardson.
She has a newsletter that Ifollow and a podcast.
It is called Letters from anAmerican by Heather Cox
Richardson.
She is one of the mostknowledgeable people I have ever

(07:55):
listened to.
It blows my mind.
But she delivers news in a verycalm way and she doesn't go
spouting off her opinions or getyou worked up.
It's very factual, it's verycalm and informative.
Another is the newsletter fromSharon McMahon called the

(08:17):
Preamble.
She has a sub stack that Ifollow and I get the email sent
to me through that.
And the third is Jessica Yellen, or Yellen News, not Noise.
This way you can be away fromsocial media and still be
informed.
You have no excuse to go backunless you're enjoying it, which

(08:41):
hopefully I can return to thatagain someday.
So now for today's project.
Let's get to that.
This fits in the same littlebasket as this entire talk.
Today I'm making protest signsand I'm very excited about it.
These remember these are notbeing recorded in real time, so

(09:04):
I think by the time this airs,that protest will have already
taken place, and it's done bythe same people who did the no
Kings protest.
It's supposed to be big andit's peaceful and it's a great
way to join in with yourcommunity and meet with other
people who care about democracyand freedom and human rights,

(09:27):
and I'm really excited about it.
So I've got all my pens and myboards and that's what I'm doing
today.
Between doing that andrecording this, I think it's
going to be a pretty catharticday and, to tell you the truth,
I'm really looking forward towho I might run into or meet or
what have you.

(09:48):
I would like to bring mydaughter to her first peaceful
protest.
I haven't asked her yet if shewants to go, so we'll see, but
I'll update you and just get outthere.
Do something with your hands,make something, clean something,
write something, dancesomething.
Write something, dancesomething, cook whatever comes

(10:12):
to mind.
And if the news or social mediaor both are bringing you down
and putting you in a headspaceto where you cannot think, like
I was several days ago, leave it, put it down, walk away, start
reading the news from credible,calm news sources.
Go in with a calm, nervoussystem.

(10:33):
Whatever it takes to get there.
Get there first and then stayupdated, because this is no time
to ignore what is going on outthere.
This is no time to pretendeverything's great.
We have to keep our eyes ondemocracy, but we also have to
do it with a calm, nervoussystem.
If you like this episode,please share it.

(10:56):
I'm not on social media rightnow, so that'll help me get the
word out and, in the meantime,stay curious.