五條垂暮之年你纔會明白的道理

Life is not easy when you are pursuing something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences. Most of the time, we learn the lessons from the old and wise as they have already been where we are and have done what we do. But we hardly take their advice in advance. We never think of this as a precaution. We always learn it from our life and rarely does life teach us something in a easy way. It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile. Here are five life lessons which people will learn the hard way in majority of cases.

當你想追尋值得做的事情並準備學習最好的經驗時，生活並不是簡單的。大多數的時候，我們從老者和智者那裏學習經驗，因爲他們也曾經和我們一樣年輕過，也曾做過我們現在做的事情。但是我們很難提前採取他們的建議。我們從未把這當做預防措施。我們總是從自己的生活中去學習，而生活也很少用簡單的方式來教我們。它總是測試我們，讓我們通過失敗來學習有價值的東西。下面的這五個教訓，大部分的情況下人們都是費一番苦功纔會學到。

takes consistent time and effort to be an expert in any area.

無論想成爲哪個領域的專家，都需要付出同樣的時間和努力。

This is the first and foremost thing to keep in mind. People usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it will. One thing to keep in mind is that people refer only to people who have already achieved what you want to be, which most people fail to do. They look at other unsuccessful people and apply those criteria to them even before they take action. Look at any successful person and you’ll notice one thing common in all of them. They took time to learn and mastered their craft like no one else. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.

這是你要記住的第一件事，也是最重要的一件事。當人們覺得所用的時間比預想的要長時，通常都會垂頭喪氣。但要記住一點，人們只會提起已經取得成功的人，而大部分的人都以失敗告終。人們看着其他沒成功的人，自己還未行動，就把那些準則用到他們身上。隨便找出一個成功的人，你就會發現成功人士的共同點。他們都比常人努力，拿時間去學習並掌握技能。通往成功的路上沒有電梯，你只能去一級一級爬樓梯。

don’t have to live your life in a way society wants you to.

你不必以社會想讓你生活的方式去生活

Decades of old beliefs, superstitions and rituals are being performed these days and are followed blindly without questioning their rationale. Parents sometimes force their children to select a career they don’t want because other children have selected that career. Girls are made to follow some rituals in their family which makes no sense to them at all. Worst of all, people follow them without even asking. There is no harm in old rituals and beliefs but when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you’ll realize that you should first do what you think is right.

幾十年的舊習、迷信和規矩最近又開始風行，人們盲目地跟風而不去質疑這樣做的理論依據。父母們有時會強迫孩子選擇孩子不喜歡的專業就因爲其他孩子選擇了那個專業。女孩們在家裏要守一些對她們來說無任何意義的規矩。最糟糕的是，人們連問都不問，就這樣做。老規矩和舊習俗並無什麼害處，但當你在感興趣之前就去做時，不久你就會意識到你應該先做自己認爲是正確的事情。

don’t care about the things we get easily.

我們不在乎容易得到的東西

This is true in all the areas of life. Take health for example. Very few people take their health seriously. They know that if their health is lost, they won’t be happy, still they eat junk food and never exercise, keep accumulating fat and keep spending on weight loss programs. Still nothing works. Why? Because they don’t take their health seriously and the real reason behind that is they have got it for free. We spend thousands on cars and take care of them nicely. Imagine what would have been the price of human body if we had to pay for it? And then imagine how well we would take care of it if we had paid a huge amount of money to get our body.

這一點放之四海而皆準。就拿健康爲例吧。很少有人把健康當回事兒。他們知道當他們不健康時，會不開心，但是他們還是會吃垃圾食品，不去鍛鍊，不斷積攢脂肪，又不斷去減肥。但仍是毫無效果。爲什麼？因爲他們不拿自己的身體當回事，因爲他們沒有付出任何代價就擁有了身體。我們在車上花了成千上萬元，所以會好好保管車。假如人的身體是有價的，那我們得付出多少錢呢？然後再想一下，如果我們得付出很大一筆錢才能得到自己的身體，我們會怎樣對待自己的身體呢？

a world where everyone is trying to be like someone else, it takes great amount of courage to take the road less traveled.

在一個大家都想成爲別人的世界中，需要很大勇氣才能走少有人走的路。

In our whole life, we are always asking ten people before taking any step. We always want to validate that we are sure and do not make any mistake. We are too scared to fail hence, we follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same thing everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. Why? Because we are scared. But when you get bored of life, you realize that you are not meant to do what everyone does and that your destiny is different than anyone else’s out there in the world. But the price we pay to realize this is high because it takes a tremendous amount of guts to follow your own trail by listening to your heart.

在我們的生活中，我們總是在行動前問10個人的看法。我們總是想確保這樣做是可以的，這樣做是不會犯任何錯誤的。我們太害怕失敗了，所以我們按着別人建議的道路去走，做別人做的事情，走別人走的職業路線，穿和別人一樣的衣服，和同事一起出去玩。爲什麼？因爲我們太害怕了。但是，當你覺得生活無聊時，你會意識到，你不該去做別人做的事情，你的命運和世界上其他人的命運都不同。但是我們意識到這一點所需要花費的代價太高了，因爲這需要大量的勇氣去傾聽自己的內心來走自己的道路。

have to break the rules sometimes.

有時你需要打破規則。

We follow rules so that things are in order and no one is disturbed unnecessarily. This is true in case of traffic and other company rules but when it comes to your life, there are rules made by people who are scared to do something apart from their routine and therefore they made rules to prevent others doing so. But when time passes by and you think you are not being directed towards your goal and these so called rules are your biggest obstacles, BREAK THEM. Sometimes, we need to be bold and act courageously.

我們遵守規則，這樣事情就會有序，沒人會受到不必要的干擾。這適用於交通規則和公司的一些規則。但是在你的生活中，有些規則是由一些除了日常活動外什麼也不敢做的人設定的，他們設定規則來阻止其他人這樣做。但是隨着時間的流逝，你認爲自己沒有朝着目標前進，那些所謂的規則是你最大的障礙。那就打破它們吧。有時，我們需要大膽一點，需要勇敢地行動起來。

After all, life lessons are always learned the hard way. However, if you are smart enough to learn early and wish not to waste your precious time learning them the hard way, learn them now and apply it to your life as soon as possible.

畢竟，生活中的教訓總是需費一番苦功才能學到。然而，如果你足夠聰明想早點兒學到它們，不想把寶貴的時間浪費在費勁去學這些教訓上，那麼你現在就可以學習它們，並可以儘早把它們用到你的生活中。