To Care or Not to Care
The art of editing the personal and stepping back
My favourite part of studying PWE at RMIT has been the focus on collaboration and real-world industry experience. Tertiary education — while a great tool to explore all different walks of life — is the opportunity to develop specialised skills in preparation for the workforce. For the last couple years of my life I’ve wanted to be an editor, and I got my first real shot at it when assigned a photobook to edit.
I was fortunate enough to have a brilliant photographer — Bonnie — whose subject was young women enjoying themselves on nights out in the city, and at home in their everyday life. Get Home Safe was a gorgeous exploration of what it means for a girl to have fun. But it also addressed the knife’s edge that women tread when we go out at night.
Yes, I always get too invested
This was an opportunity to work on a project that was important to me as a young woman myself. Before I reached out to Bonnie, my teacher warned us against getting too invested in a project that was not ours. So is the life of an editor; pouring hours of work, thought and care into someone else’s work, usually with little to no recognition or acknowledgement. (Bonnie was wonderful however, and credited both me and the other editor Renee) As such, we are recommended to appropriately distance ourselves from the projects we work on, and not take things personally.
This was my first major hurdle. Throughout my entire academic career, from primary school to final year of university, and even the odd jobs that I’ve had during that time, I struggled with managing myself in terms of getting too invested in things that really don’t mean that much in the grand scheme of things. A particularly overblown reaction to a Year 11 essay on Chinese history, and the fall-out my poor mother had to deal with, comes to mind.
Giving as an editor is secondary to what an author wishes to receive.
At the initial stages of contact and familiarity with Bonnie’s project, I could feel myself wanting to give more to than it needed. Not because it wasn’t important, but because as an editor, my giving to the project was secondary to what Bonnie wished to receive. Being too invested in something that is ultimately not yours can all end in tears, whether it’s art, love or yes, even editing.
When shit gets real
And sometimes, when the project begins to involve something personal, the only way to help yourself and help others is to step back. At the beginning of the semester, I was eager to get as stuck into Bonnie’s project and subject matter as much as I possibly could. Girls deserve to get home safe, and I loved the way she approached the topic through her photography.
Around halfway through the project, after a night out celebrating a good friend’s 21st, I was harassed and grabbed by a man on the tram home. More than slightly drunk, in five-inch heels and a short dress at 2am, I was petrified. Fortunately, I was saved by an older couple who intervened, got off the tram with me and stayed with me until my Uber arrived. I escaped with only a couple bruises and a small scratch from his fingernails. Not all girls do.
Crying in an editorial meeting is never the desired outcome.
While I have had experience with unwelcome catcalls and ‘friendly’ attention, I had never been physically hurt or as terrified as was in that moment. An incident like this leaves you vulnerable for days. With apologies for my absence, I missed the next meeting with Bonnie, and returned to the work a week later with a fresh appreciation for her subject. I won’t lie, it was difficult to talk with her and Renee about the project. Suddenly the girls in the photographs were me, and the captions were echoing my experience like a broken record in my head. Crying in an editorial meeting is never the desired outcome, and I narrowly avoided it by putting distance between myself and the project.
I recognised that I could not collaborate effectively on this project in the way I had been previously without hurting myself. I needed to shift my priorities.
Save yourself the burnout.
In our western society, we are defined by our jobs. I could get into the automation of man, or the seemingly unescapable wheel of capitalism, but I think the approach to our careers in society is best outlined simply. As a child, we are never asked ‘Who do you want to be?’, we are asked ‘What do you want to be?’
We need to separate ourselves from this line of thinking, pushed relentlessly by hustle culture and the incursion of technology into our private lives. It’s harder than ever to switch-off, but these are a few of the things that worked for me:
- Turn your notifications off, or at least update your settings so you are only notified by the things that you actually need. And no, that doesn’t include someone mentioning you in a comment on Facebook. It takes a while, but the peace afterwards is bliss.
- Following silencing notifications, learn that you don’t need to reply straight away, whether it’s your work or your friends. Most of the time, it really isn’t as urgent as you think.
- It’s okay to miss a meeting every once in a while. Your colleagues and friends will understand.
- Just go for that run. I know I know it’s hard to motivate yourself, but really, you will feel better.
- Have a set time in the afternoon that you will stop working. No exceptions.
There are more important things than answering that email after you’ve already logged off for the evening, or working that shift when you had already asked your manager for that day free.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t try at your job or that you should quit it. We all need to earn a living, and having a job is the way most of us do it. But you don’t need to try so hard that you burnout. I’m looking at you, overachievers and perfectionists.
Sometimes, things aren’t worth your time and stress. Sometimes, keeping your distance is the best option for all involved. Sometimes, a job is just a job.
