「人生是一场单人游戏」

教育   2024-09-06 19:00   英国  
大学期间,我曾经度过一段精神上极度困苦的时光。我记得当时还联系过学校的心理咨询师。

其中有一次,当我诉说完我的困境之后,咨询师并没有直接回答,而是反问了我一句:

你有没有发现,你说了很多「应该」?这些「应该」是哪里来的?

短短一句话,瞬间点醒了我。原来刻在我脑子里的那些「应该」,那些必须要满足的高要求,都是人为塑造的,或许来自父母,或许来自社会,但都并非我或者现实真正需要的。

当我开始学会把一个个「应该」剔除出人生词典后,我的生活不再像过去一样僵化死板,而是越来越自由、开阔。

巧合的是,10年后的现在,我在《纳瓦尔宝典》读到了类似的表述。把它整理了出来,分享给大家,希望能给正在经历同样困境的年轻朋友们一些启发。


ENVY IS THE ENEMY OF HAPPINESS
嫉妒是幸福的敌人
作者 | Naval
原著 | 《纳瓦尔宝典》
译者| 赵灿

I don’t think life is that hard. I think we make it hard. One of the things I’m trying to get rid of is the word “should.”  Whenever the word “should” creeps up in your mind, it’s guilt or social programming. Doing something because you “should” basically means you don’t actually want to do it. It’s just making you miserable, so I’m trying to eliminate as many “shoulds” from my life as possible. 

我认为,生活本身没有那么难,是我们自己把生活变难了。我在生活中努力摆脱“应该”这个词。当“应该”在脑海中出现时,其背后隐藏的是负罪感或社会规训。如果做一件事是因为“应该”,那就表示你内心是不想这么做的,而违背自己的心意会让你变得痛苦不堪。因此,我努力在生活中减少“应该”做的事。


  • that adv. 那么
  • eliminate [ɪˈlɪmɪneɪt] v. to completely get rid of something that is unnecessary or unwanted 消除,根除


The enemy of peace of mind is expectations drilled into you by society and other people. Socially, we’re told, “Go work out. Go look good.” That’s a multi- player competitive game. Other people can see if I’m doing a good job or not. We’re told, “Go make money. Go buy a big house.” Again, external multiplayer competitive game. Training yourself to be happy is completely internal. There is no external progress, no external validation. You’re competing against yourself—it is a single-player game.


内心平和的敌人是社会和其他人灌注给你的期望。 社会告诉我们:“快去锻炼吧。好好打扮吧。”这是一场多人竞争的游戏,我们做得好不好会受到别人的检视。社会还告诉我们:“快去赚钱吧。去买栋大房子吧。”这又是一场外在的多人竞争游戏,参与游戏的人也会受到别人的检视。而训练自己获得幸福感完全是内在的,不需要外界评判你的进展,认可你的结果。你是在跟自己竞争,这是一场单人游戏



  • drill sth into sb  to keep telling someone something until they know it very well 向(某人)灌输(某事)


We’re like bees or ants. We are such social creatures, we’re externally programmed and driven. We don’t know how to play and win these single-player games anymore. We compete purely in multiplayer games.


人类和蜜蜂或蚂蚁一样是社会性生物。我们遵从一定的社会规则,受到社会反馈的驱动。结果就是,我们已经不知道如何玩儿和赢得这些单人游戏了。我们完全投身于多人游戏的竞争。



The reality is life is a single-player game. You’re born alone. You’re going to die alone. All of your interpretations are alone. All your memories are alone. You’re gone in three generations, and nobody cares. Before you showed up, nobody cared. It’s all single player. 


而现实是,生活就是一场单人游戏。人独自出生,独自死亡,独自解读人世间的一切。你的记忆只属于你一个人。你出生前无人在意,你离开人世后也无人在意,你存在于人世间只是短短几十年,人生就是一场单人游戏。



Perhaps one reason why yoga and meditation are hard to sustain is they have no extrinsic value. Purely single-player games.
瑜伽和冥想很难坚持的一个重要原因也许就是,它们只关乎内心,没有外在价值,属于纯粹的单人游戏。



Buffett has a great example when he asks if you want to be the world’s best lover and known as the worst, or the world’s worst lover and known as the best?  in reference to an inner or external scorecard.


巴菲特曾经提出这样一个问题,你是想成为世人眼里最差但自己心里最好的情人,还是想成为世人眼里最好但自己心里最差的情人?这个问题就是一个很好的例子,它说明存在内在和外部两套评价标准。这个问题完全抓住了重点,即所有真正的评价标准都是内在的。



Exactly right. All the real score cards are internal. Jealousy was a very hard emotion for me to overcome. When I was young, I had a lot of jealousy. By and by, I learned to get rid of it. It still crops up every now and then. It’s such a poisonous emotion because, at the end of the day, you’re no better off with jealousy. You’re unhappier, and the person you’re jealous of is still successful or good-looking or whatever they are.


嫉妒是一种很难克服的情绪。我年轻的时候嫉妒心很强。随着阅历的增加,我逐渐学会了克服嫉妒,当然,嫉妒仍会时不时地冒出来。嫉妒是一种有害的情绪,因为归根到底,它并不能改善你的生活,只会让你不快乐,而你嫉妒的那个人仍然是成功的、美丽的,仍然拥有你所嫉妒的一切。


  • by and by soon 不久,很快
  • crop up  if a problem crops up, it happens or appears suddenly and in an unexpected way (问题)突然冒出来
  • every now and then 偶尔,有时
  • poisonous [ˈpɔɪzənəs] adj. 有毒的,有害的
  • at the end of the day used to give your final opinion after considering all the possibilities 最终,到头来,不管怎么说
  • be better off with sth 有...会更好


One day, I realized with all these people I was jealous of, I couldn’t just choose little aspects of their life. I couldn’t say I want his body, I want her money, I want his personality. You have to be that person. Do you want to actually be that person with all of their reactions, their desires, their family, their happiness level, their outlook on life, their self-image? If you’re not willing to do a wholesale, 24/7, 100 percent swap with who that person is, then there is no point in being jealous.


这个问题完全抓住了重点,即所有真正的评价标准都是内在的。嫉妒是一种很难克服的情绪。我年轻的时候嫉妒心很强。随着阅历的增加,我逐渐学会了克服嫉妒,当然,嫉妒仍会时不时地冒出来。嫉妒是一种有害的情绪,因为归根到底,它并不能改善你的生活,只会让你不快乐,而你嫉妒的那个人仍然是成功的、美丽的,仍然拥有你所嫉妒的一切。


  • poisonous [ˈpɔɪzənəs] adj. 有毒的,有害的
  • at the end of the day used to give your final opinion after considering all the possibilities 最终,到头来,不管怎么说

  • be better off with sth 有...会更好

  • the outlook on sth 对...的看法,观点,态度

  • swap sth with sb 与某人交换某物


One day, I realized with all these people I was jealous of, I couldn’t just choose little aspects of their life. I couldn’t say I want his body, I want her money, I want his personality. You have to be that person. Do you want to actually be that person with all of their reactions, their desires, their family, their hap- piness level, their outlook on life, their self-image? If you’re not willing to do a wholesale, 24/7, 100 percent swap with who that person is, then there is no point in being jealous.


直到有一天,我意识到,我嫉妒别人,只是嫉妒他们的某些方面,而我不可能只拥有我嫉妒的那些东西。我不能只想要那个人的身材、财富或个性。如果要交换人生,我就必须接受对方全部的人生,包括他的反应、欲望、家庭、幸福感、人生观、自我形象等各个方面。你可以接受吗?如果你不愿意与别人进行百分之百的交换,嫉妒就毫无意义。


Once I came to that realization, jealousy faded away because I don’t want to be anybody else. I’m perfectly happy being me. By the way, even that is under my control. To be happy being me. It’s just there are no social rewards for it. 


当我意识到这一点时,嫉妒心瞬间就消失了,因为我不想成为其他任何人。我很高兴我是我自己。顺便说一下,即使是“开心做自己”这件事,也在我的掌控之下,只是社会不会因此给我任何奖励。



  • fade away  to gradually disappear 逐渐消失



The End





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