Dealing with the Pressures from the Deadlines for the Newspapers

Handling the stresses and pressures from making that important deadline here, translated…

This year, because of my ideals (anxieties), and my ambitions (overestimating myself), I’d taken on several translating and writing gigs, and so, on the first day of the spring, I was, working hard, trying, to meet the deadlines. Worked for six days a week, and over ten hours on a daily basis became the norm for me, and, just like that TV star, sleeping for only an hour a day had happened a lot too (but my skin isn’t as silky smooth as hers, and it still wasn’t because I’d not used her brand of moisturizers either!)

not my comic…

With so much pressure, urging me to finish up writing, and time just didn’t seem enough, naturally, I couldn’t, afford, to take a long holiday, and having one day off out of the week became, a luxury I couldn’t afford. During this time, of course I’d had to, come up with ways to entertain myself, still having fun in the midst of all my hard days, so I can, feel a bit relaxed, and not so wind up too tight all the time.

While I was trying to meet the deadlines, one of my ways of relaxing is surfing onto Facebook. A lot of people may think, that as we’re trying to meet our deadlines, we shouldn’t get distracted and needed to stay focused, that we shouldn’t get distracted by FB. But I have a different take on the matter. Working in the writing industries (especially in translating), is something that’s strenuous to the brains, sometimes, I couldn’t come up with a single world, and, I’d gone to take on something else (the dishes, the laundry), but I’d felt, that that would take up too much time, worried that my inspirations for writing may quietly slip away from me, at which time, logging onto FB, show some care and concerns for what’s going on around me, reading other people’s thoughts, read through the gossips, saying my casual hellos to my friends……and, I’d posted a few useless articles, and, maybe, at which time my inspiration can spring up from the mud and the muck, like the mudskippers (or rather, the mudskippers were always jumping up, it’s only, that they can be known by me after I’d felt more relaxed).

trying hard, to BEAT the time!!!

Another way for me to relax is cooking. Cooking contained a multitude of healing properties, for instance, the repetitions of a single action (chopping up foods), and during that time, I’d needed to keep my focus on the task at hand completely and so, I can, divert myself from feeling the pressures of my writing deadlines……and, I could get the physical rewards at the very end too, a result that’s immediate (being fed for the meal, and gotten the applauses from my families, not as lonely as me, just sitting in front of the computers, working hard, making my writing deadlines.)

If time permitted, I’d chosen to cook something more extravagant, something that needed my mind to focus completely, or adding several more side dishes, like the tofu skinned sushi, plus miso soup, plus the eggroll sushi, with the fried zucchini. On the one hand, this helps me to escape temporarily from the deadlines of my writing, secondly, it’d allowed my brain, to take on things with levels of difficulty, unrelated to making my writing deadlines, it seemed, to make me relax more, and from time to time when I’m cooking, inspiration would hit me all of a sudden, shedding light on an issue that’s troubling me for quite awhile (no, it’s true, I’d come up with some of my best ideas in the kitchen).

But, cooking for long-term can also become tiresome too, and, I’d not hold any interests in doing other household chores (I’m truly envious of those who can de-stress by cleaning up the house, and doing the laundry, but doing these will only add on the pressures I was already feeling). At which time, it’s best, for me, to go and buy myself a huge serving of desserts, to soothe over my nerves, to up the level of dopamine in my brains, and as a way of giving myself a thumbs up for working too hard too. And I would sometimes, go for a walk, play with my child, take a nap, or a soak, all of these would manage, to soothe my nerves a little, and, although after I felt more relaxed, the stresses would always find their ways back to me.

Maybe, the best way to deal with the pressures from making the deadline is, just finish my drafts ASAP.

And so, the purpose of the entire article WAS this last line, because all of the things that the writer mentioned above would be good distractions, but, when you’re pressed by time, needing to meet that deadline that’s coming at you quick, you shouldn’t be distracted, you should just, buck down, and focus and finish what you need to finish up!