哲学思考：日复一日的生活，我们到底是为了什么？

When we think about our life, we usually think about it in a form of a story.
每当想起生活时，我们经常将生活视为故事。
First we were born and then we did some things and made some memories and now we're here and we work at our job or whatever.
故事的开始，我们出生了，出生后，我们经历了一些事情，留下了一些回忆，如今，我们站在这里，做着自己的工作或者干着其他事情。
But in the future we plan on doing more things, seeing the world maybe and saving up enough money for a enjoyable retirement.
但在未来，我们想要做更多的事情，也许是去看看世界，为悠闲的退休生活攒钱。
We all tend to view our lives in a sort of narrative structure like this,
我们都倾向于以这样的叙事结构来看待我们的生活。
with the beginning, a middle and an eventual end.
这故事有开头，主体部分和结尾。
Which kinda makes sense because by reflecting on the past,
这有点道理，因为反思过去，
it helps us make sense of where we are now and by having hopes and dreams for the future,
可以帮助我们了解我们现在的处境，并对未来怀有希望和梦想，
it gives us something to look forward to, something to plan towards and if we currently don't like our present situation,
它让我们有所期冀，有所计划，如果我们不安于现状，
we can place our pains and frustrations on the hope of a better tomorrow.
我们可以将痛苦和沮丧转化为对美好未来的希望。
But if you think about what it feels like to actually live life, like what it feels like on a day to day basis, it feels completely different.
但是，如果你只局限于体会现实生活中的感觉，比如说每天的日常生活，这就完全不同了。
We kinda just wake up, we feel kinda groggy, we stumble downstairs, get the coffee,
我们可能刚起床，感觉有点昏昏沉沉的，跌跌撞撞地下了楼，拿着一杯咖啡，
hop in the shower, you get dressed before getting in the car to get that bread.
跳进浴室，穿好衣服，上车去买面包。
And after you get that bread,
拿到面包之后，
you get more bread at McDonald's because you have an addiction and then you come home, usually pretty tired and you veg out and watch Netflix or whatever you do until you go to bed.
由于对面包的喜爱，你去麦当劳再买了些面包，随后你回到家，通常已经很累了，你就在客厅看看网飞（Netflix）电视剧或干些其他事情，最后上床睡觉。
This is what living life usually feels like to most people most of the time.
对于大多数人来说，这就是生活的感觉，大部分时间都是这样的。
Life in general is usually pretty normal.
生活通常都是如此平凡。
You do the things that you do everyday,
人们每天做着自己事情，
you kinda have a routine or a pattern you stick to and life usually isn't super inspiring or mind-blowing, it's just sort of the day to day experience.
生活可能已经形成你特有的固定模式，生活也通常不会充满惊奇或震惊的经历，它只是循环往复地重复着。
But is there anything wrong with that?
但这有什么不对的地方吗？
I mean, social media has us thinking that everyone's hanging out on yachts all the time, going on crazy adventures,
我的意思是，社交媒体给了我们一种假象，似乎大家都在游艇上游玩，不断地进行疯狂的冒险，
trying out the 2,000 different bananas in southeast Asia and everyone's getting married to the person of their dreams, popping out the most beautiful babies.
品尝出自东南亚的2000种不同种类的香蕉，与梦寐以求的另一半结婚，生育了漂亮的孩子。
But that's not life, that's a highlight reel.
但那不是生活，那是电视情节的高光时刻。
And these highlights that we constantly abs orb by the people we follow on Instagram or the movies we watch on Netflix, these highlights start to really influence the story we tell ourselves about our own lives.
这些高光时刻正是我们在Instagram上关注者的生活，或是网飞（Netflix）上观看的电影情节，这些片段影响了我们将如何看待自己的生活。
We start viewing our lives, at least our lives lived to it's fullest potential as a life with as many of these highlights in it as possible,
我们开始转变看待生活的方式，至少在生活的最大可能下，尽可能多地去经历更多的高光时刻，
so the days when these awesome, crazy things aren't happening, we view that as somehow suboptimal.
所以，当这些令人敬畏的、疯狂的事情没有发生的时候，我们认为那是某种意义上的坏事情。
Our amazing days become the expectation and our normal days become boring, like we're wasting our potential, we're wasting our lives away.
我们惊奇的生活变成了奢望，而我们普通的生活变得更无聊，就像我们在虚度生活，在浪费生命。
But this story we tell ourselves, this adventure life, no one's life is like this, not Dwayne Johnson, not Elon Musk.
但没有人的生活是这样的，像我们所讲的这个故事，这样冒险的生活，即使德维恩·约翰逊和伊隆·马斯克也没有这样的生活。
Sure, these guys are doing some really cool, important things more often than we are but still the majority of their lives,
当然，比起我们，这些人做的事情非常酷、也很有意义，但是他们大部分的生活仍然，
they just sort of wake up, they do a bunch of things they don't wanna do, they're grinding it out, they're working hard, they're often really frustrated or stressed out.
也只是醒后，做一堆他们不想做的事情，他们摸爬滚打，努力工作，也往往感到十分沮丧或压力很大。
They still poop, they still have to eat.
他们也要上卫生间，也需要吃饭。
Most of their lives exist in this sort of day to day monotony.
他们的生活大多也是在日复一日的单调循环之中。
They're experiencing life in the exact same way that you are,
他们正以与你完全相同的方式过着自己的生活。
except when Elon Musk is fantasizing about escaping the day to day grind and taking a vacation, instead of the Bahamas, he's thinking Mars.
只是埃隆·马斯克幻想逃离乏味生活时，选择的目的地不是巴哈马斯，而是火星。
Assuming you get eight hours of sleep every night, which I'm sure you do,
假设你每天晚上有8个小时的睡眠时间，我猜你确实也是睡8个小时，
you only have about 16 hours to live because you only experience life one day at a time.
你每天只有大约16个小时的时间，因为你不能一次经历两天的生活。
That little section of time between lifting your head off the pillow and putting it back down again and all that stuff in between that seems kind of normal and kinda inconsequential,
从抬头离开枕头到再次趟下枕头，这之间的那一小段时间，以及中间发生过所有的事情，似乎都很平常，微不足道。
that's all life is, it's just that thing over and over and over again.
这就是生活的全部，一遍又一遍地重复着一件事。
And this can sound super depressing or super inspiring, depending on how you look at it.
这听起来可能十分压抑或极为振奋人心，这取决于你如何看待它。
It can be depressing, obviously if you don't like those 16 hours, usually, a lot of us are slaves to our bad habits.
显然，如果你不喜欢那16个小时的话，那它可能是令人沮丧的，通常，很多人都会向坏习惯的事情低头。
We do things we don't want to do.
我们做着自己讨厌的事情。
We work jobs we don't really like and we're put in certain financial or social situations that we really don't like being in.
我们从事我们并不喜欢的工作，我们被迫置于一些难堪的经济或社会状况中。
So every single day, day after day is something we generally don't like doing.
所以日复一日，我们都是做着自己不喜欢做的事情。
Which is why we fantasize about the future so much.
这就是为什么我们如此憧憬未来。
We're still waiting to live our real lives and if this is all there is, then that's obviously super depressing.
我们还在想着真正地活一次，如果这就是生活的全部，那么这显然是十分令人沮丧的。
But there's a silver lining because changing your entire life isn't as big of a feat as you might think it is.
但也有一线希望，因为改变你的生活其实并没有想像中那么困难。
Since life is lived in these little 16 hour little mini episodes,
因为生活是由这16小时的片段组成的，
that's a very manageable amount of time to perfect.
这些时间段易于操纵，让我们有完善的空间。
We can start to build habits that we actually enjoy doing and that are good for us and we can train ourselves to make choices that are actually aligned with our values and will help us be the person we want to be every single day.
我们可以开始专注于我们真正喜欢做的、对我们有好处的习惯，我们可以让自己做出与自我价值观相一致的选择，并每天帮助我们成为我们想成为的人。
Because a good life is just a series of good days, not necessarily days where everything went our way and nothing was difficult or stressful but days where our system was running.
因为一个好的生活只是美好的每一天的集合，不一定是所有事情都按我们的方式进行，生活不一定完全没有困难或是压力，而只用按正常规律生活。
We gave life a good shot, we made choices that are aligned with our values and we did the little things that make us happy.
我们给了生活一次机会，做出与我们的价值观相一致的选择，做了一些让自己高兴的小事情。
Maybe that's having a good conversation with a friend or putting a little extra effort into cooking,
也许是和朋友进行一次愉快的谈话，或者在做饭时多花一点精力，
so you eat something kinda memorable and that you're proud of,
所以你吃的东西可能值得让人无限回味，而你为之自豪，
maybe that's developing one positive habit at a time so that the things that keep you grounded and happy and your mood elevated, start to become things that you do automatically.
也许这就是一个积极的习惯的养成，主动去做能使你保持平静，快乐，让你的情绪高涨的事情。
Viewing life on a micro scale like this also adds clarity to the little choices we make throughout the day.
像这样从微观上看待生活，也会使我们每天做出的选择更加清晰。
If you've always wanted to be a more social person, 
如果你一直想成为一个更善于社交的人，
then that means saying yes to beers with the boys today, when you get the invitation.
那么这就意味着，你要接受男孩们一起喝啤酒的盛情邀请。
And if you're constantly fantasizing about being a more fit person, that means going to the gym today.
如果你一直在幻想成为一个更健康的人，那就意味着今天要去健身房。
Because your life is today, that's all it is.
因为你的生活就是今天，这就是它的全部。
It's just today repeated. 
它只是日复一日的重复。