After friends have come around and brought presents and made animated faces, after there has been some cake and some cuddles, after there have been a lot of bright lights and perhaps some songs too.

在朋友們帶著禮物和生動的表情來訪後、在一些蛋糕和擁抱後、在很多明亮的光線可能和一些歌謠後。

Enough is enough.

要適可而止。

The baby will start to look stern and then burst into tears.

寶寶會開始看起來不滿然後突然大哭。

And the wise parent knows that nothing is particularly wrong, though the baby may by now be wailing.

而明智的家長知道沒什麼特別不對勁的地方，就算現在寶寶可能在嚎啕大哭。

It is just time for a nap.

只是小睡時間到了。

The brain needs to process, digest and divide up the welter of experiences that have been ingested.

大腦需要處理、消化並分隔已被吸收的混亂經歷。

And so the curtains are drawn.

所以窗簾會被拉下來。

Baby is laid down next to the soft toys, and soon it's asleep, and calm descends.

寶寶被安放躺在柔軟的玩具旁，很快就睡著，接著迎來平靜。

Everyone knows that life is going to be a lot more manageable again in an hour.

大家都知道一小時後生活就會變得更好控制得多。

Sadly, we exercise no such caution with ourselves.

遺憾的是，我們對自己沒有這麼小心。

We schedule a week in which we will see friends every night, in which we'll do 12 meetings (three of them requiring a lot of preparation)...

我們會規劃一個禮拜，必須每個晚上見朋友、開 12 個會 ( 其中三個需要做非常多的準備 )...

... where we'll make a quick overnight dash to another country on the Wednesday, where we'll watch three films, read 14 newspapers, change six pairs of sheets, have five heavy meals after 8pm and drink 30 cups of coffees.

... 週三連夜趕到另外一個國家、看 3 部電影和 14 份報紙、換 6 組床單、吃 5 次晚上八點後的大餐還有喝 30 杯咖啡。

And then we lament that our lives are not as calm as they might be and that we are close to mental collapse.

然後我們哀嘆自己的生活可能不像以前一樣平靜，還有自己接近精神崩潰。

We refuse to take seriously how much of our babyhood is left inside our adult selves and, therefore, how much care we have to take to keep things simple and very very calm.

我們拒絕認真看待自己成人自我中還存留多少嬰幼兒情態，也因此忽略我們需要多少照顧才能讓一切保持簡單並非常、非常平靜。

What registers as anxiety is typically no freakish phenomenon.

所謂的焦慮症典型上並不是什麼怪異的現象。

It is our mind's logical enraged plea not to be continuously and exhaustingly overstimulated.

那是我們心智合理的憤怒懇求，不想再被持續勞累地過度刺激。

These are some of the things we may need to do to simplify our lives:

以下是也許能簡化我們生活所需要做的幾點：

Fewer People; fewer commitments.

少點人，少點承諾。

It is theoretically a privilege to have a lot of people to see and things to do.

理論上，有很多要見的人和很多要做的事是種榮幸。

It is also, psychologically speaking, exhausting and ultimately therefore rather dangerous.

心理上來說，那卻也非常令人筋疲力盡且最終頗為危險。

The manner of expression is a little dated and brutal.

表示的方式有點過時但直截了當。

And one might want to quibble over the exact timings, but this point from Friedrich Nietzsche remains acute:

可能還會有人爭論確切的時間點，但尼采的這個論點還是相當準確：

"Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men."

「現今還是一樣，人們屬於兩個類別：奴隸和自由之身。」

"Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever else he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar.”

「無論是政治家、商人、公務員還是學者，人只要一天中的三分之二不屬於自己，他就是個奴隸。」

We need to recognise that what is physically possible for us to achieve in a day is not, for that matter, psychologically wise or plausible.

我們必需認知到我們一天內體能上可以達成的，其實心理上並不明智也不合理。

It may well be feasible to nip over to a foreign capital or two in a day and run a company alongside managing a household.

一天內奔走一或兩個異國首都和一邊經營公司一邊持家可能是可行的。

But nor should we be surprised if such routines ultimately contribute to a breakdown.

不過要是這種日常導致崩潰也不需太驚訝。

Sleep.

睡眠。

Plenty of it of course; at least seven hours.

當然是指充足睡眠，至少七小時。

Or if we can't manage it, we need, at a minimum, fully to recognise how much we are deprived, so that we won't aggravate our sorrows by searching for abstruse explanations for them.

或者若是我們做不到，我們至少必須認知自己被剝奪了多少，這樣才不會再尋找難解的悲傷原因時加深悲痛。

We don't necessarily have to get divorced, retrain in a completely different profession or move country.

我們不一定需要離婚、重新訓練完全不同的職業或搬去另一個國家。

We may just need to get some more rest.

我們可能只需要多休息。

Media.

媒體。

What we're taking in when we check our phones is perhaps the single greatest contributor to our mental ill-health.

我們查看手機所接收到的東西可能是造成心理不健康最大的唯一原因。

For most of history, it was inconceivable that there could ever be such a thing as 'too much news'.

過去大部分時候，「資訊過多」是難以置信的事。

Information from political circles or foreign countries was rare, prized and expensive.

政治圈或外國的資訊當時相當罕見、極被珍視並且昂貴。

But since the middle of the twentieth century, news has been commodified.

但自從 20 世紀中期，新聞就被商品化了。

And, in the process, it has become a major, though still too little known, risk to our mental survival.

而在過程中，這已成為雖鮮為人知卻重大的心理倖存危機。

Every minute of every day presents us with untold options for filling our minds with the mania, exploits, disasters, furies, reversals, triumphs, insanity and cataclysms of complete strangers around our benighted planet.

每天的每分每秒都提供我們以愚昧地球各處陌生人的狂熱、奇事、災難、狂暴、逆境、勝利、瘋狂和大變動塞滿腦袋的無數選項。

Always, news organisations speak of our 'need to know' and 'need to know right now'.

新聞組織總是將「必須知道」和「必須馬上知道」掛在嘴邊。

But what they've left out is our equally great, and often even greater 'need not to know'.

但他們遺落的一樣重要，常常更重要，那就是我們「必須不知道」。

Because we cannot change anything.

因為我們不能改變任何事。

Because the stories are too violent, dispiriting and sad.

因為那些故事太過暴力、令人沮喪難過。

Because our minds are fragile.

因為我們的心智很脆弱。

Because we have responsibilities closer to home.

因為我們在離家更近的地方有責任。

Because we need to lead our own lives rather than be torn apart by stories of the lives of others who are ultimately as remote from and irrelevant to us as the inhabitants of the Egyptian court of King Sneferu in late 2,613 BC.

因為我們必須過好自己的生活，而非為了對我們來說像西元前 2613 年埃及斯尼夫魯法老宮廷中居民一樣遙遠無關的其他人的故事感到痛心。

Thinking.

思考。

Insomnia and anxiety are the mind's revenge for all the thoughts we refuse to have consciously during the day.

失眠和焦慮是心智對白天我們拒絕自覺思考的所有想法的報復。

In order to be able to find rest, we need to carve off chunks of time where we have nothing to do other than lie in bed with a pad and paper in order to think.

為了能找到安寧，我們必須分出一段段時間，只躺在床上拿著筆記本和紙來思考。

We need to consider three topics in particular:

我們需要特別思索三個主題：

Firstly, what's making me anxious?

第一，是什麼讓我焦慮？

Secondly, what's caused me pain and how?

第二，是誰讓我痛苦？而且他如何讓我痛苦？

And thirdly, what's exciting me?

第三，是什麼讓我興奮？

We need to sift through the chaotic contents of our minds.

我們必須過濾腦海中混亂的想法。

Every hour of living requires at least ten minutes of sifting.

生活中的每小時至少需要十分鐘來過濾。

Expectations.

期望。

Of course, it might be pleasant to be extraordinary, famous and world-beating, but maybe it will be an even greater achievement to stay sane and kind.

當然，變得非凡、有名、萬夫莫敵可能都很愉快，但保持清醒並善良可能才是更偉大的成就。

We might opt not to conquer the world in favour of living a longer, and more serene life.

我們可以選擇不征服世界，來過一個更長久、更安詳的人生。

We are not backing away from a challenge, we're simply shifting our sense of what the real challenge might be, and more importantly where the real rewards may lie.

我們並不是在逃離挑戰，而單純是轉移對何謂真實挑戰的認知，還有更重要的是，哪裡才有真正的獎勵。

A quiet life isn't necessarily one of resignation or flight.

閑靜的人生不一定要離職或遷徙。

It may constitute a supremely wise recognition that the truly satisfying things are available away from the spotlight and the big cities, on modest salaries and as far as possible from the manic, sleepless competition to 'win' the professional status race.

它可能由一個極為明智的認知構成，知道真正的滿足來自聚光燈和大城市之外、中等薪資，並遠離瘋狂且不休的職業地位競賽。

As we're discovering, excitement can be fun for a time; but it also kills.

我們所發現的是，刺激在一段時間內是有趣的，但它也足以抹煞生命。

Simplicity is true wisdom.

簡樸才是真正的智慧。

We may need a lot more naps.

我們可能需要更多小睡時間。

Do you need a detox from your devices?

你需要戒除電子產品嗎？

Our phone detox is designed to help give you a well-deserved break from your phone.

我們的戒除手機療程專為非常值得休息的你不使用手機所設計。