Smart Habits for Managing Social Anxiety and Perfectionism with Sadie Hall

Back in May, we asked our listeners what topic we should discuss on our podcast, and the response was overwhelming: anxiety.

We believe that this response is definitely a reflection of the time we’re all in, but it is also something many freelancers struggle with from time to time—both anxiety in general and social anxiety in particular.

We are very grateful to our guest, Sadie Hall, for joining us in this episode and sharing her experience with managing anxiety, social anxiety, and perfectionism.

Sadie is a freelance translator and editor living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She completed an honours bachelor of arts with a specialization in French-to-English translation at the University of Ottawa from 2010 to 2012. Her previous degree, also from the University of Ottawa, was a general bachelor of arts with a minor in linguistics. In 2012, she launched her freelance career, building on her network of contacts from the university.

She worked full-time on her freelance business until her first child was born in 2015. Since then, she has been doing the parenting and freelancing balancing act with varying degrees of success, depending on the month. She also speaks candidly on her blog and Instagram account about her experiences with motherhood and mental health issues, particularly recovering from social anxiety and perfectionism.

She hopes that sharing her mental health journey can raise awareness and help others feel less alone, and she is planning to write a mental health memoir soon.

Here is a summary of our conversation with Sadie:

• How and when she started her freelance translation career

• How her journey in dealing with anxiety, and social anxiety in particular, started

• How she realized that anxiety was affecting her and what she did to manage this condition

• What role her support system has played in the process

• What social anxiety is and how it might affect someone’s work

• What some of the symptoms of social anxiety are and how to know if you should talk to someone or seek help

• How perfectionism can affect translators and become a contributing factor to anxiety, and, more importantly, what you can do to manage it

• How to manage stress and the challenges that come with owning a freelance business

• How stress and anxiety can play into the balance of family and work life and how to navigate these priorities while dealing with anxiety

• What smart habits can help you manage anxiety, social anxiety, and perfectionism

• Sadie’s advice to freelance translators who suspect they may be suffering from anxiety

Resources we mentioned in this episode:

• Sadie’s Instagram account and anxiety blog

• Sadie’s freelance business site

• Mood tracker

• Bonkers: A Real Mum's Hilariously Honest Tales of Motherhood, Mayhem and Mental Health by Olivia Siegl

• The Joy of Missing Out: Live More by Doing Less by Tonya Dalton

• The Genius Life: Heal Your Mind, Strengthen Your Body, and Become Extraordinary by Max Lugavere

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, know that there are resources and professionals who can help. Reach out to your physician, your local mental health hotline, or someone you trust and let them know you need help.

We’ll be sending our email subscribers a summary of today’s episode with a link to the show notes so you can quickly find all the resources that we mentioned today.

Sadie has also kindly offered to share a free resource with our listeners. You will find it in our next subscriber email that will go out on July 21. If you’d like to receive it, please sign up for our emails below.

Our next episode will be available on July 29th. If you want to hear about the topics of our upcoming episodes before they’re released, be sure to subscribe to our emails and follow us on social media!

For a full list of resources, visit the show notes page for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/22