Day 351: On Admitting You’re Struggling

第351天：关于承认自己陷入困境

To cut out every negative root would simultaneously mean choking off positive elements that might arise from it further up the stem of the plant. We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them.

砍掉每一根消极的树根，同时也就意味着扼杀了植物茎干上可能由此产生的积极因子。

我们不应因自身的困境而感到难堪，而应该为自己未能从中孕育出美好的事物而羞愧。

—Alain de Botton

I often talk about my failures in my books because I want my readers to understand that hardships are an inherent part of the process. If somebody claims they’re successful but they’ve never failed, you can be sure they’re lying.

我常在自己的书中谈及我的失败，因为我希望读者明白，艰难困苦是这一过程中固有的一部分。

要是有人声称自己很成功，但却从未失败过，那你可以肯定他们在说谎。

Whenever you’re dealing with problems and struggling to stick to your goals, don’t be afraid to share your troubles with others and reach out for help. You might feel tempted to protect your ego and demonstrate that you’re infallible, but doing so is counterproductive.

无论何时，当你遇到问题并努力坚守目标而挣扎时，不要害怕与他人分享你的烦恼并寻求帮助。

你可能很想要保护自己的自尊心，证明自己不会犯错，但这样做只会适得其反。

Denying that you have problems — or denying that you could use help or support — doesn’t make you better than a person who publicly admits that things aren’t going well and is looking for assistance.

否认自己有问题——或者否认自己需要帮助或支持——并不会让你比一个公开承认事情进展不顺利并寻求援助的人更好。

In the end, there’s nothing to be ashamed of when you’re struggling. The only shame is in failing to recognize your problems because that’s when you miss out on some of the most valuable opportunities to grow.

归根结底，当你陷入困境时，没有什么可羞愧的。

唯一应该感到羞愧的是未能认识到自己的问题，因为这时你会错过一些最宝贵的成长机会。