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TED英文演讲：用更少的物质，过更丰富的人生！
在消费主义盛行的现在，各个商家平台、带货主播、品牌广告，都在通过各种方式刺激我们买买买，最终我们可能买了一大堆根本用不上的东西，不仅占据了生活空间，还让我们产生了巨大的物质压力。当你以为赚更多钱，就能买更多更好地东西，从而过得更幸福、充实时，也许你会感到失望。演讲者Nicodemus讲述了自己曾经为了付清账单而拼命工作，感到空虚压抑的生活，以及在Joshua的帮助下，开始践行极简主义，实现自己人生价值的故事。
演讲者：Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus
作家、播客主播、电影制作人和公共演说家，倡导极简生活，著有畅销书《极简主义》https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?width=500&height=375&auto=0&vid=r3037gmi08s
Imagine your life a year from now --2 years from now --5 years from now. What’s it going to look like? Imagine a life with less: Less stuff, less clutter, less stress, and debt, and discontent. A life with fewer distractions.想象一下，你未来一年的生活，从现在起的两年，从现在起的五年，它会变成什么样子？想象一个变得更简单的生活：更少的物质，更少的杂乱，更少的压力，债务和不满。更少的让你分心的生活。
Now, imagine a life with more: More time, more meaningful relationships, more growth and contribution. A life of passion unencumbered by the trappings of the chaotic world around you. Well, what you're imagining is an intentional life. It’s not a perfect life, it's not even an easy life, but a simple one.现在，想象一个更丰富的生活：更多的时间，更有意义的人际关系，更多的成长和贡献。一种激情不会被你身边喧闹的世界阻碍的生活。那么，你想象的是一种有选择的生活方式。它不是完美的生活方式，甚至不是容易的，但它是简单的。
What you're imagining is a rich life, the kind of rich that has nothing to do with wealth. You know, I used to think rich was earning $50,000 a year. Then when I started climbing the corporate ladder in my twenties, I quickly begin turning fifty grand. But I didn't feel rich.你所想象的是一种富有的生活方式，一种和财富完全无关的富有。过去我想富有就是每年挣五万美元。然后在二十多岁的时候，我就开始在企业里面熬级别，很快我就挣到了五万美元。但是我并不感到富有。
So I tried to adjust for inflation. Maybe $75,000 a year was rich. Maybe $90,000. Maybe 6-figures.Or maybe owning a bunch of stuff, maybe that was rich. Well, whatever rich was, I knew that once I got there I would finally be happy.然后我就为通胀调整了目标。也许每年七万五千美元是富有。也许九万美元，也许十万以上。也许，拥有很多东西，也许那才是富有。无论如何定义富有，我知道我一旦富有了，我应该会变得很幸福。
So as I made more money, I spent more money, all in the pursuit of the American dream, all in the pursuit happiness. But the closer I got, the further away happiness was. Five years ago my entire life was different from what it is today. Radically different. I had everything I ever wanted. I had everything I was supposed to have.接着，我挣了更多的钱，花了更多的钱。一切为了实现美国梦，一切为了追求幸福。但是离目标越近，我离幸福却越远了。我五年前的生活和现在的生活是不同的，完全的不同。我拥有我想要的一切，我应该有的一切。
I had an impressive job title with a respectable corporation, a successful career managing hundreds of employees, I earned a six-figure income, I bought a fancy new car every couple of years, I owned a huge 3-bedroom condo, it even had 2 living rooms. I have no idea why a single guy needs two living rooms.在一个有声望的大公司里面有一个瞩目的头衔，管理几百名员工的成功职业，十万以上的收入，每隔几年，我就会买一辆昂贵的新车，拥有一个很大的三间卧室的公寓，甚至有两个起居室。我不明白一个单身汉为什么需要两个起居室。
I was living the American dream. Everyone around me said I was successful. But I was only ostensibly successful. You see, I also had a bunch of things that were hard to see from the outside. Even though I earned a lot of money, I had heaps of debt. But chasing the American dream cost me a lot more than money.我当时生活在美国梦中。我周围的每个人都说我很成功。但是我只是表面上的成功。我有很多东西，从外面是很难看到的东西。虽然我挣了很多钱，我却有非常多的债务。追逐美国梦的过程中，我花费了比钱更多的东西。
My life was filled with stress, and anxiety, and discontent. I was miserable. I may have looked successful, but I certainly didn't feel successful. And it got to a point in my life where I didn't know what was important anymore.我的生活充满了压力，焦虑和不满。我是可怜的。我也许看起来成功，但是我感觉不到成功。当时，我已经不再知道什么是重要的了。
But one thing was clear: there was this gaping void in my life. So I tried to fill that void the same way many people do: with stuff. Lots of stuff. I was filling the void with consumer purchases. I bought new cars, and electronics, and closets full of expensive clothes. I bought furniture, and expensive home decorations. And I always made sure to have all the latest gadgets.但有一件事是清晰的，我的生活有一个张开的空洞。所以我想把那个空洞填满，用其他人也用的办法：物质。很多的物质。我当时通过购物来填满空洞。我买了新车，电子设备，衣柜里面填满了昂贵的衣服。我买了家具，和昂贵的装修。而且我有最新的小玩意。
When I didn't have enough cash in the bank, I paid for expensive meals, rounds of drinks, and frivolous vacations with credit cards. I was spending money faster then I earned it, attempting to buy my way to happiness, and I thought I'd get there one day eventually.当我银行账户里面没有足够的现金时，我用信用卡支付了昂贵的大餐，很多的饮品和毫无意义的假期。我花钱的速度超过了我挣钱的速度，试着通过买，来实现幸福，我想终有一天，我会得到幸福。
I mean happiness had to be somewhere just around the corner, right? But the stuff didn't fill the void, it widened it. And because I didn't know what was important I continued to fill the void with stuff, going further into debt. Working hard to buy things that weren't making me happy.我是说幸福就在某个角落里，不是吗？但是物质没有填满那个空洞，反而把它变得更大了。而且因为我不知道什么是重要的，我继续用物质来填满空洞，欠了更多的债务。努力工作来买更多的物质没有让我幸福。
This went on for years. A terrible cycle: Lather, rinse, repeat. By my late twenties, my life on the outside looked great. But on the inside, I was a wreck. I was several years divorced. I was unhealthy. I was stuck.这种情况持续了几年。一个可怕的循环：泡沫，冲洗，重复。在我快三十岁的时候，从外表看起来我过的很好。但是内心讲，我像是一艘下沉的船。我离婚几年了。我并不健康。我被困住了。
I drank, a lot. I did drugs, a lot. I used as many pacifiers as I could. And I continued to work 60, 70, sometimes 80 hours a week, and I forsook some of the most important aspects of my life. I barely ever thought about my health, my relationships, my passions. And worse of all, I felt stagnant.我酗酒，嗜毒成瘾。我使用了大量的镇静剂。而且我继续每周工作60，70有时是80个小时，我放弃了一些我人生中最重要的东西。我几乎没有考虑过我的健康，我的关系和我的激情。最糟糕的是，我感觉被困住了。
I certainly wasn't contributing to others, and I wasn't growing. My life lacked meaning, purpose, passion. If you would have asked me what I was passionate about, I would've looked to you like a deer in headlights, “What am my passionate about?" I had no idea.我显然没有为其他人贡献什么，也没有成长。我的生活缺乏意义，目标和激情。如果你问我对什么有激情，我会像看着夜路中的驯鹿一样看着你，“我对什么有激情？”我不知道。
I was living paycheck to paycheck, living for a paycheck, living for stuff, living for a career that I didn't love. But I wasn't really living at all. I was depressed. Then, as I was approaching my thirties, I noticed something different about my best friend of twenty-something years.我要应付一个接一个的账单，为了账单活着，为了物质活着，为我不喜欢的职业活着。但是我没有真正的在活着。我抑郁了。然后，当我在马上就三十岁的时候，我注意到了一些不同的事情，关于我最好的朋友的二十多岁的时光。
Josh seemed happy for the first time in a really long time --like truly happy, ecstatic. But I didn't understand why. We had worked side by side at the same corporation throughout our twenties, both climbing the ranks, and he had been just as miserable as me. Something had to have changed.乔希看起来很开心，很长时间以来的第一次，像是真正的开心，狂喜。但是我不明白为什么。在我们二十多岁的时候，我们并肩在同一个公司里工作，都在熬级别，他跟我一样可怜。一定有什么事情变了。
To boot, he had just gone through two of the most difficult events of his life. His mother just passed away, and his marriage ended, both in the same month. He wasn't supposed to be happy. He certainly wasn't supposed to be happier than me.除此之外，他刚刚经历了人生中最艰难的两件事。他的妈妈刚刚去世，他的婚姻结束了，在同一个月里面。他不应该开心的。他肯定不应该比我开心。
So I did what any good best friend would do. I took Josh out to lunch, I sat him down, and I asked him a question: “Why the hell are you so happy?" He spent the next 20 minutes telling me about something called minimalism.所以我做了所有好朋友都会做的事情。邀请他在外面吃一顿午餐。我看到他坐下，然后问了他一个问题：你究其是如何变得这么开心的？他花了二十分钟给我讲了“极简主义”。
He talked about how he spent the last few months simplifying his life, getting the clutter out of the way to make room for what was truly important. And then he introduced me to an entire community of people who had done the same thing. He introduce me to a guy named Colin Wright, a 24-year-old entrepreneur who travels to a new country every four months, carrying with him everything that he owns.他讲了他如何在过去的几个月中简化他的生活，把混乱的东西剔除来给真正重要的东西腾出空间。接着他向我介绍了整个社区的人，他们都做了同样的事情。他向我介绍了科林·怀特，一个24岁的企业家，他每四个月访问一个新的国家，访问时带着他所有的东西。
Then there was Joshua Becker, a 36-year-old husband, and father of two, with a full time job, and a car, and a house in suburban Vermont. Then he showed me Courtney Carver, a 40-year-old wife, and mother to a teenage daughter in Salt Lake City. And there was Leo Babauta, a 38-year-old husband, and father of six in San Francisco.然后他介绍了约书亚·贝克， 36岁的丈夫，两个孩子的父亲他有一个全职工作， 一辆车，和一个位于佛蒙特州的房子。还有考特尼·卡夫， 四十岁的妻子，她有一个十多岁孩子，他们住在盐湖城。来自旧金山的里奥·巴波特38岁的丈夫和6个孩子的父亲。
Although all these people were living considerably different lives, people from different backgrounds, with children, and families and different work situations, they all shared at least two things in common.虽然这些人都过着很不相同的生活，拥有不同的背景，孩子，家庭和不同的工作环境，他们有至少两件事是相同的。
First, they were living deliberate, meaningful lives. They were passionate, and purpose-driven. They seemed much richer than any of the so-called rich guys I worked with in the corporate world. And second, they attributed their meaningful lives to this thing called "minimalism."首先，他们都过着慎重的，有意义的生活。他们都有激情，而且被他们的目标驱动。他们看起来比那些商业世界所谓的富有的家伙更富有。其次，他们把他们有意义的生活归功于“极简主义”。
So, me being the problem-solving guy that I am, I decided to become a minimalist right there, on the spot. I looked up at Josh, I excitedly declared, "Alright man, I'm going do it, I'm in. I'm going to be a minimalist. Now what?”所以， 我作为一个解决问题的人，决定变成一个极简主义者，就在那一刻，那个地方。我看着乔希， 我激动的宣布：“好的， 我打算这么做，我接受。我要变成一个极简主义者。现在该做什么？”
I don't want to spend months paring down my items like he had. That was great for him, but I wanted faster results. So we came up with this idea of a packing party. We decided to pack all my belongings as if I were moving, and then I would unpack only the items I needed over the next three weeks.我不想像他一样花几个月的时间来削减我的东西。那样对他很好，可是我要更快的结果。所以我们想到了打包这个主意。我们决定把我所有的东西打包，就像我要搬家一样，然后在接下来的三个星期中，我只从包裹中拿出我需要的东西。
Josh literally helped me box up everything: My clothes, my kitchenware, my towels, my TV's, my electronics, my framed photographs and paintings, my toiletries, even my furniture, everything. After 9 hours, and a couple of pizza deliveries, everything was packed.乔希帮我把每个东西打包， 包括：我的衣服，厨房用品，毛巾，电视，电子产品，我的相框和画，还有我的洗漱用品，甚至是我的家具，所有的一切。经历了九个小时，吃掉了一些外卖披萨后，所有一切都打包了。
So there Josh and I were, sitting in my second living room, feeling exhausted, staring at boxes stacked halfway to my 12-foot ceiling. My condo was empty, and everything smelled like cardboard. Everything I owned, every single thing I had worked hard for over the last decade was sitting there in that room.乔希和我坐在我的第二个起居室，感觉累极了，盯着那些堆到12英尺高墙一半的箱子。我的公寓已经空了，一切闻起来像纸板箱。我拥有的一切，在过去十年我努力为之奋斗的每个东西都在那个房间里面了。
Just boxes, stacked on top boxes, stacked on top boxes. Now each box was labeled so I'd know where to go when I needed a particular item. Labels like "living room," "junk drawer #1,""kitchenware," "bedroom closet," "junk drawer #9," so forth and so on.就是一些箱子，落在其他箱子上的箱子。现在每个箱子都打了标签以便我在需要时， 知道去打开哪个箱子。比如， “起居室”， “杂物箱 1”，“厨房用品”， “卧室衣柜”，“杂物箱 9”，诸如此类的标签。
I spent the next 21 days unpacking only the items I needed: My toothbrush, my bed and bed sheets, the furniture I actually used, some kitchenware, a toolset, just the things that added value to my life. After 3 weeks, 80% of my stuff was still sitting in those boxes, just sitting there, unassessed.我在接下来的21天里只拿出我需要的东西：我的牙刷， 我的床和床单， 我需要用的家具，一些厨房用品，一些工具，只有那些对我生活有用的东西。三个星期后， 我的80%的东西还在箱子里面，就在那里，没有碰过。
All those things that were supposed to make me happy, they weren't doing their job. So I decided to donate and sell all of it. And you know what? I started to feel rich for the first time. I started to feel rich once I got everything out of the way. I made room for everything that remains.所有那些本该让我高兴的东西，没有起到任何作用。所以我决定捐献并卖掉所有的东西。你知道结果如何？我开始第一次感到富有了。在清理东西时，我感到了富有。我为留下的东西腾出了空间。
A month later, my entire perspective had changed, and then I thought to myself, “Maybe some people might find value in my story --in our story.”一个月后，我的整个视角都变了，我不禁思考，“也许有人会从我的故事中获得灵感，我们的故事。”
Joshua: So Ryan and I did, I guess what anyone would do, we started a blog. We called it "the minimalists", and that was 3 years ago. Then something amazing happen.乔希：接着莱恩和我做了其他人都会做的事情， 写博客。我们把它命名为“极简主义者”， 那是在三年前，接着惊奇地事情发生了。
52 people visit our website in the first month. 52! I realize that might sound unremarkable at first, but that meant that our story was resonating with dozens of people. And then other amazing things started happening. Fifty two readers turned into 500,500 became 5,000and now more than 2 million people a year read our words.第一个月内， 52个人访问了我们的网，52！我知道开始这听起来没什么，但是，这意味着我们的故事在几十人中引起共鸣。接着，其他惊奇的事情开始了。52个读者变成了500个，500个变成了5000个，现在，每年有超过200万人阅读我们的文字。
It turns out that, when you add value to people's lives, they’re pretty eager to share the message with their friends, and their family, to add value to their lives. Adding value is a basic human instinct. In fact, that's why we're here today.事实上，当你为其他人的生活产生价值时，他们很期望分享给他们的朋友，他们的家庭，以便他们也能获益。创造价值是人类的本能。这也是今天我们来这里的原因。
A couple of years ago, Ryan and I moved from Ohio to Montana. And what we discovered here was an entire community of people, people who weren't traditionally wealthy, but who were rich in a different way. We discovered so many people who were willing to contribute beyond themselves. And that's what makes a real community: contribution.几年前，莱恩和我从俄亥俄州搬到了蒙大拿州。我们发现这个社区的人们都不是传统意义上的拥有很多财富，但是他们都是在另一个角度上富有。我们发现了很多人他们愿意超越自己。这也就是建成一个真正社区的基础：贡献。
And so we'd like to encourage everyone to take a look at your day-to-day lives. Take a look at whatever eats up the majority of your time. Is it checking email, or Facebook, or watching TV? Is shopping online, or at retail stores? Is it working hard for a paycheck to buy stuff you don't need, things that won't make you happy?我们希望激励每一个人审视他们日常的生活。审视是什么吞噬掉了他们大部分的时间。是检查邮件， 脸书，还是看电视？网上购物，还是在商店里面购买？是努力的工作来支付那些你根本不需要的东西，那些让我们不快乐的东西？
Now it's not that we think that there's anything inherently wrong with material possessions, or working a nine-to-five -- there's not. We all need some stuff. We all have to pay the bills, right? It’s just that, when we put those things first, we tend to lose sight of our real priorities. We lose sight of life's purpose.我们并不认为那些是错误的，比如拥有物质，或者朝九晚五的工作， 不是的。我们都需要物质才能生存， 我们都要付账单，不是吗？只是当我们把那些当作最重要的事情时，我们会忽略我们生命中真正重要的东西，忽视我们生活的目标。
And so maybe getting some of the excess stuff out of the way,clearing the clutter from our lives, can help us all focus on, well, everything that remains, things like health, relationships, growth, contribution, community. Thank you.把这些不需要的东西清除出去，清除我们生活中的杂乱，能够帮助我们集中精力在剩余的事情上，比如健康，人际关系，成长，贡献，还有社区。谢谢！
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