Back Pains, Eye Soreness
Translator's not-so-interesting daily life, physical pain and mental fatigue, and a good way for recovery.
The nine-day lunar new year break was over, and it was more than a week since the start of work. How were everyone’s vacation and work? Last time we talked about the wonderful exhibition “Lumière” of the MoNTUE, whose exhibition period would last till April, and we turn to daily life this time, talking about a translator’s daily work, about physical pain and mental fatigue, and about a good way for recovery.
In addition, our online reading club is about to start in April! At the end of the article are some rough ideas. Interested friends are welcome to reply to this e-mail message or leave a comment to register. Any suggestion for the book list is also welcome.
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這篇文章的中文版在這裡。
The nine-day lunar new year break was over, a rare long vacation in the year, and I enjoyed a vacation both busy and slack: I slept away half the vacation, literally, with an average of 11 to 12 hours a day — but given that we should have slept away 1/3 of the time, I only slept about 1/6 more, which did not seem like too much an excess. As for the remaining 1/2, apart from some gatherings with family and friends, I devoted all my time to working on translations under time pressure.
Time pressure, urgent deadlines, and working overtime — keywords loved and hated by every translator (well, probably no love at all), but anyway familiar to all. Every time I sat in front of the computer and took a brief break before continuing to work on the next task, I couldn’t help but ask myself why I ended up working overtime again. Sometimes there appeared unexpectedly a text I would love to work on, or sometimes a book with a generous deadline became more and more urgent due to my falling sick or other reasons. In this lunar new year break, the two cases happened at the same time (again). Now that I came to think of it, this was not the first time I had to work during the lunar new year. It was a pity that the translation fee would not be doubled even though I worked during the vacation. Although the work was arranged by myself, I often ended up taking on more cases than I could complete with ease, probably out of over optimism, and had to work overtime again.
In the days of working under time pressure, it is always inevitable to suffer from back pains and eye soreness, which probably applies to all those who have to sit in front of and stare at the computer for a long time. My own coping method is to drink more water, so I have to get up and walk around no matter how busy I am, and I practice yoga when I have free time (I will share some stretches to relieve back pains below). However, what troubled me during this period was not only physical pain but also mental fatigue, and the two are of course intertwined with each other.
Because of too busy work, I suspended my regular yoga and dance classes since last August or September. At first, I was worried that my health would get worse if I stopped regular exercises. After six months of experiments, however, I could offer a piece of comforting news: the changes were in fact not as substantial as I expected, so I realized there was no need to force myself to exercise when under considerable pressure for a certain period of time just because it seemed healthier to exercise regularly. It was more important to sleep well. After these days, I finally realized (like someone who would naively say let them eat cake) that maintaining a regular exercise habit obviously requires the mind and body to be in a good state. However, I was still very happy when taking to the yoga mat occasionally as well as watching the videos of my friends dancing. I was finally able to rearrange my life and work pace recently, and I hope to regain the habit of exercising as soon as possible.
One afternoon, the then always low-spirited I saw my husband Kuang-wei lying in bed reading, feeling contented, so I asked him his secret to happiness. He looked up from the book and said:
As a good-looking wealthy guy graduated from the National Taiwan University (NTU), what I own is not earned by my own toil, so I am grateful every day.
Looking at his sincere expression, I was really unsure whether he was going for the Oscars or whether he meant it in earnest.
I tried for a few times to change the perception of myself since listening to his words of wisdom, but not very successful. Also a graduate from NTU like him, I could think of myself as wealthy — we could afford to treat ourselves to fancy restaurants from time to time, and we had a roof above us, so not bad, but I could not quite perceive (or deceive) myself as a beauty.
Later, I happened to watch a program introducing Cuban ecology on TV. The sun, the sea, and the mysterious and distant country were all very soothing, and what impressed me most was the iguanas in Cuba. Rather than a beauty, I’d probably picture myself as an iguana, lying on the beach to bask in the sun, grazing on seaweeds and algae when hungry. What it takes to lead a wonderful life is far simpler than what I thought. Sometimes I feel human beings have taken the wrong turn on the journey of evolution. We cannot soar in the sky, and we are often too busy to enjoy (or to remember to enjoy) the wonder of sunlight and nature.
Whenever stressed, I imagine the sun, the sea, and the iguanas in my mind, which seems to calm me down and help me relax. Finally, though not an iguana in Cuba, here is an iguana in Ecuador, and I hope we could all achieve work-life balance and rest all the rest we need in this new year.
Stretches for Back Pain Relief
Here are a few stretches for relaxing the spine. I think they are very helpful to relieve back pains, especially the cat-cow pose, which is simple yet with good effects.
* Listen to your body when practicing and restore to the original posture slowly if you feel uncomfortable. Do not force yourself into any posture.
Cat-Cow Pose
Come to all fours, drop down the head and the sitting bone to make the spine convex (Cat Pose), and lift the head and the sitting bone to make the spine concave (Cow Pose). Repeat for a few times (e.g. 5 times).
Down Dog and Up Dog
Down Dog: Push the hips up from the kneeling position, and the hips (sitting bone) become the apex of the body, making the whole body like a triangle. If the back legs are tight, you can relax the knees and focus on stretching the shoulders and back.
Up Dog: Lower the body back to all fours, move forward and lie down, and then prop up the upper body with the hands; you may contract the thighs to lift them off the ground.
Simple Twist
Right side: Sit down, straighten the legs forward, bend the right knee, slowly turn the body to the right, and rest the left elbow on the right knee. Slowly turn back and bring the right knee down again.
Left side: Bend the left knee, slowly turn the body to the left, and rest the right elbow on the left knee. Slowly turn back and bring the left knee down again.
Shoulder Relaxation
Right side: Prepare a yoga block or a pillow next to you (optional). Lie down with face down and open the hands to the sides, palms up. Bend the left knee, prop the body up with the left hand, lie on your side, step the left foot behind the right knee, and place the yoga block or pillow under the head. You may support the body with the left hand put in front of the chest, or move the left hand to hold the right hand with fingers intertwined. Restore to the original posture by reversing the sequence: put the left hand back in front of the chest, slowly lower the body, lie down with face down, and straighten the left foot.
Left side: Bend the right knee, prop the body up with the right hand, lie on your side, step the right foot behind the left knee, and place the yoga block or pillow under the head. You may support the body with the right hand put in front of the chest, or move the right hand to hold the left hand with fingers intertwined. Restore to the original posture by reversing the sequence: put the right hand back in front of the chest, slowly lower the body, lie down with face down, and straighten the right foot.
These stretches can relax the spine, shoulders, and back, and I like to stretch a bit when tired. As for the best way to recover from fatigue? In my opinion, as stated in the first paragraph straight to the point, getting enough sleep is certainly the key.
Some Thoughts on the Reading Club
Our online reading club is about to start in April, and probably on 8:00 pm on a Saturday once a month, and we will finish one book in 2 to 3 months. Currently there are several types of books under consideration:
Books related to translation and writing, such as The Elements of Style.
Literary classics like Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge or The Moon and Sixpence.
Taiwanese literature, such as Wu Ming-yi’s The Land of Little Rain, or the works of Yang Fu-min and Wu Xiaole, only that not many of their works have been translated into English.
I look forward to reading and discussing with you. Feel free to leave a comment, reply to this e-mail message or write to me at transcreation@substack.com to register, and any suggestion for the book list is also welcome!