An Alternative to the “Midlife Crisis” | Chip Conley | TED

翻译人员: jing lin 校对人员: suya f.

What first pops into your mind when you hear the word "midlife"?

当你听到“中年” 这个词时， 你首先想到的是什么？

"Crisis," yes.

“危机”，是的。

The dreaded midlife crisis is the butt of all kinds of jokes,

可怕的中年危机是各种笑话的焦点，

but it's also a serious matter.

但这也是一个严肃的问题。

After I lost a few friends to midlife suicide,

在我的几个朋友都因 “中年自杀”而离去之后，

I decided to create an alternative narrative

我决定创造另一种叙事，

to the awful way we tend to think of our 40s, 50s and 60s,

改变对40、50和 60多岁的悲惨看法，

and I'm going to share that with you over the next three minutes.

我将在接下来的三分钟内 与大家分享我的想法。

Midlife is one of the three life stages that sprouted in the 20th century.

中年，是20世纪 才划分的三个人生阶段之一，

Adolescence didn't even exist until 1904,

青春期这个词在1904年才出现，

when society realized that just because you hit puberty

当时社会意识到， 孩子即使到了青春期，

didn't mean you were an adult.

也不代表他是个成年人了。

Retirement was popularized nearly a century ago,

退休制度是近一个世纪前普及的，

with pensions and social security,

得益于有了养老金和社会保障，

and then 25 years later, with the advent of AARP --

25年后，美国退休人员协会出现，

I hope you have your card -- and retirement communities.

我希望你拥有协会的卡和你的退休社区。

Those two life stages got a whole lot of love,

这两个人生阶段都得到很多关爱，

but there's a life stage in the middle that didn't get much respect.

但人生的中间阶段却没有得到多少尊重。

Midlife is the natural outgrowth

中年是

of the three decades of additional longevity

我们延长了30年寿命的自然产物，

we were granted in the 20th century.

这是我们在20世纪获得的权益。

But all it got was a bad brand, the “midlife crisis,”

但它得到的却是一个 糟糕的标签：中年危机。

which was coined in 1965.

这个词是在1965年被创造出来的。

Yet research on how happiness evolves as we age

然而，关于幸福感如何 随着年龄增长而演变的研究表明：

shows that from about age 22 or 23, all the way to 45 to 50,

从22、23岁开始， 一直到45至50岁，

there is a long, slow decline in life satisfaction.

生活满意度有一个长期而缓慢的下降。

It bottoms out around 45 to 50, although your mileage may vary.

当然你到达的实际年龄可能会有所不同， 但它会触底在45到50岁左右。

(Laughs)

（笑）

On the other side of that, though,

另一方面，

the good news is that, from age 50 on,

好消息是：从50岁起，

we get happier and happier.

我们又会变得越来越快乐。

It's called the U-curve of happiness.

它被称为幸福的 U 形曲线。

So maybe there's a new framework to think about midlife,

因此也许有一种新的方式来思考中年，

one that we learned when we were kids.

一个我们小时候学到的东西。

The magical metamorphosis of the caterpillar to the butterfly.

毛毛虫变成蝴蝶的神奇蜕变。

Just as a caterpillar eats incessantly

就像毛毛虫不停地吃一样

just before it's about to spin its chrysalis,

在它快要变成蛹之前。

so do we, as young adults, madly consume and produce.

作为年轻人， 我们也一样 疯狂地消费和工作。

And then, the caterpillar decides to take its midlife break

然后，毛毛虫决定度过中年时光

in its chrysalis,

在蛹里。

which is dark and gooey and solitary,

它黑暗、粘稠、孤独，

but it's also where the transformation happens.

但它也是转变发生的地方。

On the other side of that, there's a chrysalis that cracks open,

然后，有一个蛹会裂开，

and this beautiful winged creature emerges

这个美丽的有翅膀的生物出现了，

that delights us all:

这就是我们都喜欢的

the butterfly.

--蝴蝶

So to recap,

总结一下，

the caterpillar consumes,

毛毛虫消耗，

the chrysalis transforms

蛹蜕改变，

and the butterfly pollinates.

蝴蝶诞生。

What if we rethought midlife,

如果我们重新思考中年

such that it's not a crisis, it's a chrysalis.

它不是危机， 而是一只蛹。

The midlife chrysalis.

中年之蛹。

What if we thought of midlife as the dawning of a new age?

如果我们把中年视为 一个新的时期的开始。

An age where much of what we accumulated dissolves?

在这个时期，我们积累 的很多东西都融合了。

Just as we're ready to transform,

在我们准备好转变的时候，

spread our wings

展开我们的翅膀，

and pollinate our wisdom to the world in our 50s and beyond.

并将我们的智慧传播给世界。 在我们五十多岁以后。

听众：是的。

Audience: Yeah. Chip Conley: Yes, yes.

奇普·康利（Chip Conley）： 是的，是的。

If you look at life like that,

如果你这样看待生命的，

it's maybe possible that it's cool to grow old.

变老也许是件很酷的事

Are we ready for pro-aging,

我们准备好迎接变老了吗？

not anti-aging products?

而不是抗衰老产品。

Audience: Yeah.

听众：是的。

(Cheers and applause)

（欢呼和掌声）

CC: Can we make aging aspirational?

我们能让变老成为一种向往吗？

I sure hope so.

我当然希望如此。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Cheers and applause)

（欢呼和掌声）