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Fit to Translate, Part II

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I think it’s really important for us to put our health first as often as we can. In Fit to Translate, I talked about how staying active can help us be better translators (or editors, freelancers, anything-ers). In today’s post, I must reluctantly admit that, sometimes, the best way to stay fit is to do nothing at all. That’s right. No sports, no networking. Nothing. Just taking it easy and recovering…

On Monday night, April 15, I was giving it my all at Muay Thai, working up a sweat practicing my jabs, crosses, hooks and kicks. I was pumped, because one of my favourite translation events was coming up on Friday in Ottawa: the annual general assembly/workshop of the Réseau des traducteurs et traductrices en éducation (RTE). The RTE is one of the closest-knit, friendliest, most welcoming translators’ associations I’ve ever had the pleasure of joining.

So there I was:

One-two-kick! One-two-kick! I’m a translator, hear me roar! Bilingually! I will network my FACE off on Friday!

The S stands for Supertranslator. Obviously.

The S stands for Supertranslator. Obviously.

Photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc

And then? I started feeling funny later on Monday night. And when I woke up Tuesday morning…

Bam. Viral pharyngitis. (I know. Charming, right?)

My throat had morphed into a tunnel of fiery pain. Not only did I end up missing a bunch of work over the next few days, but I also faced the prospect of missing the long-awaited (and once-a-year) RTE event that had me so pumped and kicky. After much over-thinking, I finally decided that, as much as I wanted to travel to Ottawa and attend the event even though I was sick, I really couldn’t go. Here’s why:

No matter how valuable a networking and professional development event might be, you’ve got to put your health first.

This might sound obvious, but it wasn’t obvious to me. It was really hard for me to commit to staying home. The missed opportunity! The stunted development! People will forget me!

Yeah, well… I don’t really want them to remember me as the person who gave them a throat infection, either.

So, in the end, instead of networking with a bunch of respected colleagues, I networked with a box of President’s Choice fruit popsicles. Instead of sitting in on a probably-more-interesting-than-you’d-expect-from-a-board-meeting board meeting, I had a board (correction: bored) meeting with a six-pack of JELL-O pudding. I also watched the second half of Dragons’ Den Canada, season 6, which was admittedly excellent.

Sometimes, doing nothing can be really hard—even harder than doing something. For me, the worst feeling is fear—fear of not doing “enough,” fear of missing opportunities. Plus some guilt thrown in for good measure.

So here’s my gentle reminder to us all, just in case you need to hear it as much as I do:

Be kind to your body. Give yourself permission to take it easy.

I’m going to go out on a limb and bet that none of us are very effective networkers when we can barely get out of bed.

I kinda wish this was my dog. He clearly gets me.

I kind of wish this was my dog. He clearly gets me.

Photo credit: Usonian via photopin cc

Have you had to miss out on long-awaited events because you’ve been sick?

Do you regret your decision to stay home?



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