A lot of people think that all Americans are very confident in themselves, whether that be about physical appearance or work abilities or even social skills.

很多人認為，所有美國人都對自己非常自信，無論是外貌還是工作能力，甚至是社交技巧。

I think when most people picture the typical American, they'll picture someone like very positive, very outgoing, kind of loud, and a little bit too confident in themselves.

我認為，當大多數人想象典型的美國人時，他們會想象一個非常積極、非常外向、有點大嗓門、對自己有點過於自信的人。

But to be honest, this is all just a big stereotype.

但老實說，這只是一個很大的刻板印象。

While there may be some people who fit this description, that's definitely not the case for the majority of us.

雖然有些人可能符合這種描述，但我們大多數人的情況絕對不是這樣。

And there are a lot of people here who are pretty introverted or a little bit socially awkward or they don't really have a lot of self-confidence and they overthink every single decision in their life.

這裡有很多人都很內向，或者在社交方面有點笨拙，或者沒有太多的自信，他們對生活中的每一個決定都想得太多。

We also have a word for this called imposter syndrome for these situations where you might have already achieved some success in life.

我們也有一個詞叫 "冒名頂替綜合症"，就是指在這種情況下，你可能已經在生活中取得了一些成功。

Maybe you got into a really good school or you got a really good position in a company or your business is going really well, anything like that.

也許你進入了一所非常好的學校，也許你在一家公司獲得了一個非常好的職位，也許你的生意非常順利，諸如此類。

But you still are self-doubting yourself, you're still feeling not that confident and you feel like someone might have even made a mistake by letting you be so successful.

但你仍然在自我懷疑，你仍然覺得自己不是那麼自信，你甚至覺得讓你如此成功的人可能是個錯誤。

Imposter syndrome also affects women a lot more in America and there are studies to prove this.

在美國，冒名頂替綜合症對女性的影響也更大，有研究證明了這一點。

So basically even if they're the CEO of a company or they have a really good position, they hold a lot of power, they're still going to be second-guessing themselves and they're still going to be questioning their abilities and thinking that they're not really good enough to have this position that they have even though they probably worked really hard to get there.

是以，即使他們是一家公司的首席執行官，或者他們擁有一個非常好的職位，他們掌握著很大的權力，他們仍然會對自己進行自我懷疑，他們仍然會質疑自己的能力，認為自己還不夠好，還不足以擁有這個職位，儘管他們可能是通過非常努力的工作才獲得這個職位的。

Once we get into this cycle of thinking that we're not good enough, it can be really hard to escape and focus on positive things instead.

一旦我們陷入 "自己不夠好 "的思維怪圈，就很難擺脫困境，轉而專注於積極的事情。

Anytime we make a mistake or something doesn't go as smoothly as we planned, we'll find a way to blame it on ourselves and constantly overthink things and constantly wonder about all the what-ifs in life.

只要我們犯了錯誤，或者事情沒有按計劃順利進行，我們就會想方設法把責任歸咎於自己，不斷地想得太多，不斷地懷疑生活中所有的 "如果"。

Like, what if I didn't say that?

比如，如果我沒那麼說呢？

What if I just chose a different major?

如果我選擇另一個專業呢？

What if I did this instead?

如果我這樣做呢？

But this way of thinking is honestly just going to make life miserable for ourselves.

但說實話，這種思維方式只會讓我們的生活變得悲慘。

I think it's natural for people to have feelings of self-doubt or to feel a little bit insecure at some times but other people are just way better at hiding it, especially in America.

我認為，人在某些時候有自我懷疑的感覺或有點不安全感是很正常的，但其他人卻更善於隱藏，尤其是在美國。

We even have a phrase called fake it till you make it which basically means that you're pretending to be confident and pushing yourself to have a more optimistic mindset and then eventually you'll really start to feel like you're pretty good at whatever you're doing or you really will start to feel more confident in yourself.

我們甚至有一句話叫 "假戲真做"，意思就是你假裝自信，逼迫自己擁有更樂觀的心態，最終你會真正開始覺得自己無論做什麼都很在行，或者你真的會開始對自己更有信心。

So sometimes it might seem like someone is super confident or super sure about all the things that they do in life but on the inside they're probably struggling with all the same things that everyone else struggles with.

是以，有時我們可能會覺得某人超級自信，或對生活中做的所有事情都超級有把握，但其實他們內心可能也在和其他人一樣掙扎著。

They just have different ways of dealing with these negative emotions.

他們只是處理這些負面情緒的方式不同而已。

I do also think that sometimes people confuse friendliness and optimism for self-confidence when really there's no correlation between these things.

我還認為，有時人們會把友善和樂觀與自信混為一談，其實這兩者之間並無關聯。

I mean most Americans, they're pretty friendly.

我是說大多數美國人都很友好。

I mean we'll hold doors open for people and we'll rush to help anyone if we see if they're struggling.

我的意思是，我們會為人們敞開大門，只要看到有人在掙扎，我們就會衝上去幫助他們。

For example, the other day at the grocery store

例如，前幾天在雜貨店裡

I just saw someone help this new mom and her baby put all the groceries in her car and help her take the cart away and they were complete strangers but that's just something that Americans are used to doing.

我剛看到有人幫一位新媽媽和她的孩子把所有雜貨放進車裡，還幫她把推車推走，他們完全是陌生人，但這只是美國人習慣做的事情。

And when I'm abroad I can always tell when I run into another American on the street because we'll just subconsciously smile at each other.

當我在國外時，我總能分辨出在街上遇到的是另一個美國人，因為我們會下意識地相視一笑。

I mean smiling at strangers is just something that Americans are socially used to doing.

我的意思是，對陌生人微笑是美國人的社交習慣。

And we're also pretty optimistic and we like to look at the bright side of things even when life gets hard but being friendly, being optimistic, this stuff has nothing to do with our self-confidence.

我們也很樂觀，即使生活艱難，我們也喜歡把事情往好的方面想，但友善、樂觀這些東西與我們的自信心無關。

You might meet the most friendly person in the whole world but that doesn't mean that they're going to be super confident in themselves.

你可能會遇到全世界最友好的人，但這並不意味著他們會對自己超級自信。

They might be really struggling with feelings of self-doubt.

他們可能真的在自我懷疑的情緒中掙扎。

They might think they don't deserve the job they have or they're not good enough to do the things that they want to do.

他們可能認為自己不配擁有這份工作，或者認為自己不夠優秀，不能做自己想做的事情。

Some people might also just be more confident depending on how they're raised or the environment that they grew up in.

有些人可能只是因為他們的成長方式或成長環境而更加自信。

So for example, most Americans my age grew up hearing that we could do anything we wanted to as long as we worked hard or even if we failed at something you just get right back up and try again.

是以，舉例來說，在我這個年齡段，大多數美國人從小就聽說，只要我們努力工作，就能做任何我們想做的事情；即使我們在某件事情上失敗了，你也只要重新站起來，再試一次。

So hearing these things as we're growing up might help people gain some more self-confidence and also have a more positive outlook on life especially when things don't go the way we planned the first time around.

是以，在我們成長的過程中聽到這些事情，可能會幫助人們獲得更多的自信，也會讓他們對生活有更積極的看法，尤其是當事情沒有按照我們第一次計劃的那樣發展時。

Personally, my family was never really the type to sugarcoat things or to say like really positive and encouraging things all the time and we never really say I love you that much.

就我個人而言，我的家人從來都不是那種喜歡粉飾太平的人，也不是那種總是說積極鼓勵的話的人，我們從來都不會說 "我很愛你"。

That's not to say that my family is really cold and heartless it's just we're not really affectionate with words or the way that we talk.

這並不是說我家人真的冷漠無情，只是我們在言語或交談方式上並不親暱。

But there have been a few times when my parents said something really positive and encouraging like totally out of the blue and sometimes when I'm feeling kind of down or I don't really feel that self-confident or things aren't really going well at work

但也有幾次，我的父母突然對我說了一些非常積極和鼓勵的話，有時是在我感到沮喪、不自信或工作不順利的時候。

I'll literally just think of the one time my mom told me you can do anything you want to do and it really helps to motivate me and start working harder at the things that I'm doing.

有一次，我媽媽告訴我，你可以做任何你想做的事，這真的激勵了我，讓我開始更加努力地工作。

Overall, every person is different and it's really just this huge stereotype that all Americans are super confident.

總的來說，每個人都是不同的，而且所有美國人都超級自信，這確實是一個巨大的刻板印象。

I mean we're all human so of course we go through times when we don't really feel that self-confident or maybe we're unsure of what we're doing with our life but I think there's always ways to look at the positives even when things aren't going the way that we want them to.

我的意思是，我們都是人，當然會有不自信的時候，也會有對自己的人生不確定的時候，但我認為，即使事情的發展不盡如人意，我們也總有辦法看到積極的一面。

As long as we're trying our best, it's good enough.

只要我們盡力了，就足夠了。

So I hope this video helps you understand a little bit more about American culture or motivated you to look on the bright side of life and let me know in the comments if you have any questions and I'll see you guys next time.

是以，我希望這段視頻能讓你對美國文化有更多的瞭解，或者促使你看到生活中光明的一面，如果你有任何問題，請在評論中告訴我，我們下次再見。

Bye bye!

再見