Ahhhhhh! You've been chosen! You've been chosen!

啊！你被選中了！被選中了！

And though I am genuinely happy for her, I also felt painfully aware that I have been single for over a year now.

雖然我真心為她感到高興，我也痛苦地意識到自己已經單身超過一年了。

I know, I know, thank you, children.

我知道，我知道，謝啦，孩子們。

I have fulfilled the prophecy I made so long ago.

我實現了我多年以前的預言。

But being single for this long has been interesting and hard and terribly lonely but also awfully fun.

單身了那麼久既有趣又困難，而且非常寂寞，但也極其好玩。

Hanging out with couples used to be really infuriating, but now?

過去和情侶出門時都被閃得很不爽，但現在呢？

I haven't had human touch in a long time, you guys.

跟你們說，我好久沒有碰到活人了。

Just let me have this.

就讓我享受一下吧。

I mean, yes, every time a friend has gotten engaged, there is a tinge of...

我是說，對啦，每次聽到朋友訂婚的消息，我就會有種...

Am I gonna die alone?

我會單身到死嗎？

Are my 5 cats just gonna eat my body until what's left of it is magically discovered?

我的 5 隻貓會以我的屍體為食，直到剩餘的屍骨奇蹟似地被發現嗎？

Are my expectations of love just so unrealistically biased because of the media that I spent my entire life consuming that I have no real idea of what companionship looks like?

我對愛情的期望難道因為一輩子追求的媒體，變得不切實際地偏差，以致完全不理解愛情的好處？

And thanks to my doctor, I am also hyper aware that...

多虧我的醫生，我也非常清楚...

Your biological clock is ticking.

你的生理時鐘正在倒數。

Tick-tock on the clock, but the party don't stop, no.

即使時間滴答地走，也阻止不了我們狂歡

Woah, woah, oh, oh.

哇哇哦哦。

Woah, woah, oh, oh.

哇哇哦哦。

And yes, all my friends my age who are also single are having conversations like...

沒錯，我和同齡的單身朋友也常常聊到...

Oh, I am definitely freezing my eggos.

喔，我肯定是要凍卵的。

Ugh, that's just so expensive. I think I'm just gonna adopt.

呃，那太貴了。我領養孩子就好。

Adoption is expensive, too, and also really hard.

領養也很貴啊，而且很不容易。

I'll just marry a man-child then.

我嫁給一個像小孩的男人好了。

I can have both.

這樣兩個都有啦。

So in a mini freak-out, I tweeted: "All of my friends are getting engaged, married, or having babies,"

有點崩潰的我推文說：「我所有的朋友都訂婚、結婚或是生小孩了。」

"and I'm over here just genuinely happy for them because I do not compare my journey to anyone else's and neither should you!"

「而我在這裡，真心替他們感到開心，因為我並不會將人生拿來和他人的比較！你也不應該！」

And I'm doing my best to live by this because, you know, compare and despair.

而我也盡全力秉持這個想法好好度日，因為你知道的，有比較就會有失望。

And the more I embrace that the ends are in the steps I take, the more I'm able to resonate with this.

我越樂意接受「行為終致結果」這個想法，就越能產生共鳴。

It was especially enlightening when I was talking to a very happily-married friend of mine.

我尤其感到受啟發，是在和一位幸福的已婚朋友聊天時。

It was sort of this like, "I want what you have" situation, where I was very envious of her stable loving marriage and she felt envious of my stable growing career.

有點像是「渴望彼此生活」的情況，我羨慕她穩定、幸福的婚姻，她則羨慕我穩定發展的事業。

We were both looking at what the other had with so much longing that we couldn't really appreciate what we had in front of us.

我們都在看彼此所擁有的，心裡滿是渴望，卻忘了重視自身固有的。

What are you doing?

你在幹嘛？

Oh, just hanging out, watching TV with my husband.

你瞭的，打發時間，和老公看看電視。

Oh, man, I'm so jelly. I remember companionship.

天啊，我好忌妒。我記得有人陪的感覺。

What are you doing?

那你在幹嘛？

Oh, just hanging out with my cat, watching TV.

沒什麼，和貓膩在一起看電視。

Ugh, that sounds so great. I remember freedom.

那聽起來好讚。我還記得自由的滋味。

Wanna trade?

要交換嗎？

Plus, I have several friends who also got married and had kids cause they thought it was the right path that they should take;

再說，我還有一些朋友結婚生子是因為他們覺得這是應該做的、對的事。

but in hindsight, have realized perhaps it wasn't necessarily the right path for them at that time.

但我現在想想，他們所選擇的路在當時不見得是正確的。

Sometimes they wish they'd waited longer.

他們有時候希望當初應該再等等。

Some feel trapped in unhappy marriages.

有些人覺得被困在一段不快樂的婚姻中。

And some regret giving up their careers and feel unfulfilled.

有些人則後悔放棄了事業，壯志未酬。

And I say this not to highlight their unhappiness, but to remind you and myself that it's really easy to look at what someone else has and idealize it.

我說這些並不是為了強調他們的不幸，而是要提醒你和我自己：人們容易理想化他人的生活。

Whether you're achieving professional success or engaged to your person,

無論你是在拼事業或是和你命定的另一半訂婚了，

there are still gonna to be issues to deal with, feelings to sort through, and a constant awareness to not take for granted what is right in front of you right now.

都還是有問題要解決，有各種情緒需要釐清，以及要時刻提醒自己：別將眼前的一切視為理所當然。

I'm Anna Akana.

我是 Anna Akana。

We're gonna get through this, I hope.

我們可以撐過去的，我希望。

Thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring today's episode.

感謝 Squarespace 贊助今日的節目。

Squarespace has award-winning templates and an all-in-one platform, so there's no patches, upgrades, or installs ever.

Squarespace 擁有獲獎的模板以及涵蓋所有功能的平台，所以無需任何配件加載、升級或安裝。

If you need a domain, look no further and say I do.

如果你要開設網域，別再找了，接受它吧！

Squarespace is a simple and unique set of experience, and 24-hour customer service if you have any bumps along the way.

Squarespace 提供你簡單獨特的體驗，而且有 24 小時在線客服，一路上與你相隨。

You can go to squarespace.com/anna to start your free trial today.

前往 squarespace.com/anna，今天就能開始你的免費試用。

And use the offer code ANNA for 10% off at checkout.

使用代碼 ANNA 還能在結帳時打九折。

That's squarespace.com/anna and the offer code "ANNA" for 10% off at checkout.

網址是 squarespace.com/anaa，折扣代碼 ANNA 打九折。