Ten months ago I began work on the Polish translation of the book How Life Moves: Explorations in Meaning and Body Awareness by Caryn McHose and Kevin Frank for Ścieżki Mocy, an independent publishing house founded and run by Anna and Karol Kaszyc. Three months later, my translation was finished. Three months after that, Anna had a final draft, which had gone through as many rounds of review as were necessary for the translator and the proofreader to see eye-to-eye. By June, the Polish edition was in print. In July, the book I translated became available for sale direct from the publisher.

So what does it feel like to have played a role in an effort on this scale, one that took as long from conception to birth as it takes to gestate a baby? It’s a medley that includes relief, joy, fatigue, enthusiasm, self-satisfaction, and detachment. Strongest for me is relief, still, because of the patience and discipline this work involved, and because the scale of the effort spanned not days but months, and so felt as though it were spanning eternity. Most surprising among my feelings, in turn, is detachment. After all, as I sat down to work day after day and cared, full-time, about every last part of every single sentence, I never for a second considered I might one day care less, or forget my obsession altogether.

I hear Polish readers are enjoying what this book is bringing into their lives. And I’ve received many words of appreciation for the quality of my writing and the way it captures something valuable in the context of somatic work. This is why the feeling emerging as the strongest of all—and the most lasting—is basic, uncomplicated gratitude, for the invitation to contribute, and for all the ways my voice wound up essential to this co-creation.