作/譯者 By: Judy H
莎拉已經花了一小時打掃家裏，但只清理了客廳。她覺得有點餓了，但是她想把洗手間打掃完再休息一下吃點冰淇淋。
Sarah has been cleaning the house for an hour but only the living room is done. She starts to feel a bit hungry but she wants to finish the bathroom before she takes a break and has some ice cream.
我正在寫一篇文章，寫了兩小時總覺得讀起來有點不對勁。讓我修改一下再放下來出去走一走。
I have been writing a piece of article for two hours but I can’t make it sound quite right. Let me try to re-write it before I take a break and walk around.
夜深了，吉姆還在趕工想完成他兩天後要交的工作方案，他想在睡前至少完成這個重要的部份。
Jim is working into the night on a project that is not due until two days later. He feels a little tired but he wants to finish at least this major section before he hits the sack.
麥可看不出他的電腦程式那裏出了問題。他很著急，沒有心情起身為自己泡一杯熱可可。
Michael is stuck with a problem with his program coding. He feels anxious and doesn’t want to get up to make himself some hot chocolate.
你有類似的經驗嗎?
Do you have a similar experience?
「以前事情沒有做到一個完美總不能放過自己，結果累了身體也因為心情煩躁而影響周遭的人。」一位朋友這樣說。雖然這是過去的她，她所形容的狀況也經常發生在我和其他很多人身上。
“Before I wouldn’t give myself a break until I was satisfied with what I had done. I ended up feeling tired and upset and affecting the people around me”, said a friend. While she was describing what she used to do, this is also how often I and many others treat ourselves.
經常當我們在投入做一件事時，我們會想要一直做下去，直到我們把它做完、完成到某個重要階段，或問題完全解決為止我們才肯罷手，即使當中我們覺得累了或餓了。我們不喜歡做到一半就暫時把事情擱下來，因為那似乎會給我們一種沒有完成的遺憾或不完美感。如果我們沒有做完就去休息，我們會有一種 … 覺得做得還不夠多或自己不夠好的感覺。
Very often when we are in the middle of doing something, we want to keep going until we finish everything, hit a milestone or solve the problem even though we feel tired or hungry. We hate to walk away from something that is not completely done because it makes us feel somewhat unsatisfied or imperfect. We feel …. we haven’t done enough or we, ourselves, are not good enough if we don’t finish something before we take a break.
當我們把手邊的事放下來時，我們喜歡有一種很棒的成就感。我們希望在我們起身離開座位或將視線移開電腦螢幕時，有一種滿足和自我實現的感覺。於是我們一直做下去，就好像我們必須向世人召告我們做了多少和多好之後，我們才有資格去休息一下。我們抱著挨餓和疲憊的身心繼續堅持下去，就好像幾分鐘的休息或一點充飢的食物是一種獎品，我們必須努力工作才能換取。
We like to walk away with a feeling of “A” on our work. We want to get up from our chair or take our eyes off the computer screen with a feeling of satisfaction and achievement. We keep going as if we were not worthy of any rest until we could show the world how much and how beautifully we had done our job. We plough along with our hunger and fatigue as if a break or some snacks were like a prize that we had to earn with our work.
但事實上，也許沒有人會在乎我們做了多少，除了我們自己; 沒有人會在我們餓的時候驅策我們繼續做下去，除了我們自己; 沒有人會認為或表示我們不夠好，如果我們暫停一下去喘口氣; 沒有人會阻止我們休息一下或吃點東西，除非那個人是我們自己。一切都是我們的想像。我們沒有發覺 - 不是別人而是我們自己 - 給了自己多大的壓力，而且認為這個壓力不能放下來。
But the truth may be that no one in the world really cares how much we have done except ourselves; no one urges us to keep going when we feel tired but ourselves; no one would think or say that we are not good enough if we put aside our work to catch a breath; and no one forbids us from taking a break or having a bite unless we are the one who forbids ourselves. It’s all in our head. We are not aware that we are the one, not anyone else, who put so much pressure on our shoulders and tell us not to drop it.
如果我們看到了這一點，我們就可以放下 - 我們對自己 - 的期望，開始在工作當中加上一些休止符，讓自己暫停一下。沒錯，事情是要做完，但不是像跑馬拉松一樣不得休息，損害自己的健康。實事上，暫時的休息會幫助我們充電，得到更多的靈感，反而讓工作的成效更好。
When we realize this, we can let go of OUR expectations we have on ourselves and start to hit breaks in the middle of our work. Yes, work needs to get done but not like a marathon without any rest at the expense of our health. In fact, a pause here and there will give us the energy and inspiration needed to bring about a better outcome from our work.
下次當你的身體發出休息的訊號而你想忽略它繼續埋頭苦幹時，可以問問自己:「是誰要我繼續下去?」那個人很可能是你的自我，因為自我對成就感的需求是永無止盡的。
Next time when you feel an urge to keep going even though your body signals that it needs some rest, ask yourself: “Who is the one that is urging you?” Most likely it’s your ego that is always craving for a sense of accomplishment.
但我們可以有所選擇，我們可以超越自我的執著，在身體告訴我們累的時候 - 愛自己，停下來去休息一下吧。
We can make a conscious choice to go beyond our ego and love ourselves by taking a break when our body needs it.
(剛剛寫到一半，確實覺得有點餓了，於是暫停了一下去照顧自己的肚子 :-)
(I did feel a bit hungry in the middle of my writing, so I got up to get some food before I continued on ^^.)
* 寫譯 By: Judy H *
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
愛就是 - 「用最舒服的節奏，做我想完成的事」 ~ 秋敏
To Love is – “to proceed with my own pace.”
~ Chiumin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
相關內容 / You may also like:
愛的初衷 / Stick to That Initial Love
歡迎用臉書 追蹤新內容
Follow us on Facebook
⏬ 分享出去吧! 也許有人正需要它 Share to benefit someone ⏬
