When I worked as an interpreter, I carried with me a bucket daily!
A virtual one not a literal bucket, because that would be really weird. Like all other people do, going by their daily life. My bucket was fast filling and emptying as the day and encounter went on. One same encounter could add and take away from my bucket at the same time.
I could walk into an appointment with an empty bucket and get out with a half-full bucket, or I could walk out with a bucket that resembled an arid land.
The most cases that would empty my bucket and I have been through many of them; are terminal cancer cases, mostly. When the interpreter is the one that has to deliver the news, as all the eyes in the room are on you, a withdrawal from the interpreter bucket is happening without noticing.
As the encounter comes to a close, and as we were leaving the doctor office departing and going our own ways, and as the provider and the patient and/or their family thank you for rendering the service which adds to the arid bucket a few drops, your bucket account still in deficit. A nice gesture and a nice word is always a plus into that account, but the question is where is the bucket equilibrium point?
Let’s not forget here how managers can add or withdraw from our buckets, which for sure they have the upper hand over our bucket account.
On the other hand, there’re things that would add more to our buckets than to withdraw from it. For me, as an interpreter that was working at a PMNR facility. Helping patients get better, heal, grow, and do more in their lives has always inspired me and added a lot to my bucket. Having a hobby, we cared about that would compensate for what would be withdrawn away from our buckets. A nice word, a helping family, a conversation with a trusty colleague, and more, consequently, would push us to do better.
A healthy land would always give good produce; an arid land is dead till the rain comes back, and a lot of it. A few drops won’t make a difference.
Last but not least, treating people with respect and hopefully being treated the same way in return is always a plus into our bucket account.
Always watch out your bucket balance. Feel and listen to what your body is telling you, have a high EQ inwardly and outwardly. No one else will know or feel your bucket and might not even care about your bucket balance from the get-go.
A dry bucket can’t give, let us keep our buckets half full the least!
Note: this is my attempt to review and reflect on How Full Is Your Bucket? Book by Don Clifton.
#bucket #Positive #Psychology #interpreter
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