Lost (and Found) in Translation 7 - English

When talking to other translators, questions about stress always come up. Obviously, regarding deadlines, balancing work and family life, financial aspects, acquiring new clients and maintaining relationships with current ones, the quality of work, and constantly needing to learn and specialize… the list goes on and on. Keeping up with so many demands is complicated, and if something goes wrong, the level of stress hikes up. Then, the quality of work and the balance between personal and professional life suffer. Everything has physical consequences, such as body aches, headaches, lack of concentration, irritability, and other adverse effects on our health. For example, back when I was a “Padawan translator” (a la Luke Skywalker), I got a job that came in PDF, but was in real bad shape. Due to my inexperience, I did not thoroughly review the file before accepting it, and I tried using an OCR program on it to see if I could salvage anything, but I achieved nothing. The problem is that the job had more than 50 pages, and the deadline was really close, even for a blessed, god-given Word file with no problems whatsoever. Something only a noob would do. Mox is already an expert, but the feeling was basically the same as his character in the cartoon below.

As you become more experienced in the profession, you learn what to do, what must be done, and what mustn’t. However, every once in a while, there is an exception, and everything planned has to be changed: schedules, appointments, everything gets messed up. Sometimes, even your sleep. How do you deal with the consequences of stress spikes, or even a routine where stress is ever-present? While surfing the web, I came across two very interesting articles. The first one is from Mayo Clinic - where I search information to sate my hypochondriac needs - on how to alleviate the symptoms of stress: Stress management. The second, from Reader’s Digest, offers practical tips on how to “de-stress” and maintain your stress at a productive level: 37 Stress Management Tips from the Experts.

I found both of them interesting and necessary. With so many activities going on at the same time, I can imagine a pressure cooker valve on my head, just twirling and whistling while releasing vapor. I hope that you will find them likable and useful as well. I say goodbye to you with a hug, until the next newsletter.

#freelance #stress #timemanagement #wellbeing #english