Keep it cool!

Brace yourself, here’s another post about stress management.

Stress is probably the 21st Century man’s no.1 enemy, said to be the cause of every single ailment on the face of the earth: frequent headaches? Take it easy. Are you obese? Relax. Depression? Chill out. It’s true, some people might overestimate the impact of stress, however we can all agree that being stressed out is not our favourite hobby.

On top of the stresses of day to day life, interpreters and translators have to deal with professional stress: handling a number of translation projects and dealing with less than perfect clients and PMs whilst chained to a desk, rushing from one PSI appointment to another, or being confined in a booth 9 to 5. Though “regular” stress is a big component, I feel real enemy here is the mental drain we’re suffering and the unbalance created with our physical drain: whilst we’re more than braindead when the end of the day approaches, our body still has energy to burn up and this contrast makes us feel uneasy, possibly adding even more to our stress level.

I am a particularly stress-sensitive person, and things have gotten worse with time: I am now able to appear absolutely calm and relaxed, just to snap at the first minor upsetting thing. For everyone’s sake I’ve had to come up with ways to be a more emotionally stable person, and I’ve learnt a very important lesson quite quickly: take a moment to listen to your body. At the end of a frantic day or when I know I’ve got some spare time coming up I stop and ask myself “What do you need?”. Here’s some things that have helped in the past:

Going to the gym. Obvious, but not always easy to put into practice as, let’s face it, no one likes to sweat. I don’t have a gym membership, it’s cold outside, I’ve already worn my PJs, I’ve just washed my gym gear, you name it. Getting ready and getting out might be a struggle, but the benefits are immense, especially when what we need is to use up all that physical energy accumulated sitting still at a desk. You don’t need to run a marathon on the treadmill or lift 150 kg with one arm, exercise according to your fitness level for at least 30 minutes and you’ll magically even feel more rested. I am lucky enough to practice Karate, and believe me, sometimes yelling strange Japanese words whilst punching people in the face has been exactly what kept me sane.
Meditate. This is for exactly the opposite situation: do you feel like you can’t even roll out of bed but your mind is still running wild? Time to meditate, my friend. Here you’re spoilt for choice: all sorts of guided meditation for newbies are available on the internet, and then you can progress once you’ve found what works for you. No excuses accepted here, as you can do it basically whenever and wherever, even on the bus or the train. I for one have found Reiki absolutely brilliant and efficient: I am not an expert on the theory behind it, but it has to do with the balance of energy distribution in the various part of the body (starting to see a pattern?). I usually do it before going to bed when I’m restless, and before I know it I am fast asleep.

Other more unusual activities have proven quite efficient, such as doing the grocery shopping for the week, possibly because it forces you to think about something very specific and plan ahead, distracting you for a while from worries; or cleaning and tidying up the house – but that’s something I resort to after I’ve tried literally everything else. I’ve also noticed that having a regular, but not monotonous, routine helps me to feel in control, and I guess it also takes the mental pressure off thinking how to go about organising every single day of our life. Furthermore, we have to admit that sometime we shoot ourselves in the foot. When things don’t go as planned, or simply as we expected and wanted, it’s easier to give in to panic, anger and annoyance, which in turn only exacerbate stress even more.

Stress is indeed part or our life and profession, we can’t escape it but we can control it, and most of all get rid of it! We only need to put extra effort in, know and listen to ourselves, and recognise our limits.