[On Success] Don’t be too hard on yourself![关于成功] 不要对自己太苛刻！

On Friday evening, I had the privilege of having dinner with the former Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, at a special Senior Common Room dinner at Cabot House.  At the reception prior to the dinner, I ran into a good friend of mine who lived in the room right next to me last year.  We were excited to see each other after not having caught up in a few weeks, and we talked about all that we had been up to since we last saw each other.  I mentioned how I was still hard at work on my thesis and studying for exams this past week, and he echoed my sentiments, as he had been busy with projects for class and exams as well.  An additional thing we both agreed on, however, was that following our exams this week, we had both tried to have a little fun — go sing karaoke, watch a movie, and just relax with friends — but somehow we ended up just feeling guilty afterwards about all of the work that did not get done as a result!  As I was in yoga class this morning trying to decompress, I realized that one key to relaxing is really to stop being so hard on yourself.  Each of us is our own worst enemy, as the saying goes, and for us high-achievers, no one puts more pressure on us to succeed than ourselves.  Life is complicated, and we have to simultaneously balance work or school (or both), family, friends, significant others, and our own health and wellness.  To do well in each of these areas, the first step is to be at peace with yourself and your accomplishments.  So take a deep breath, purge the guilt out, and realize that every day is a clean slate, a brand new chance for you to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself.周五晚上，我有幸能与希腊前首相George Papandreou共进晚餐，是在Cabot House里Senior Common房间的一个特殊晚餐。在晚餐前的招待会上，我见到了一个去年住在我隔壁房间的好朋友。我们好几周没联系了，见了面都很兴奋。我们聊到了我们没见面这一段时间的近况。我说过去的一周我依然忙于毕业论文还有复习考试。他赞同了我的观点，因为他也在忙着准备课程的作业和考试。但是，我们达成的另一个共识是，这周的考试结束后，我们都试着去享受一下：卡拉OK、看电影、跟朋友一起放松。但最后我们都因为没有完成全部工作而懊悔。今天早晨，当我试着通过瑜伽课来减压时，我意识到想要放松的关键一点是不要太强迫自己。有句话说，每个人最大的敌人是自己。对我们这种目标高远的人来说，没有人比我们自己更强迫自己成功。生活如此复杂，我们必须同时保持工作或学业、家庭、朋友、另一半和我们自身的健康之间的平衡。要是这些每项都要做好，第一步骤就是要对自己和自己的成就正确对待。所以深呼一口气，抛弃罪恶感，要知道每一天都是新的一页，一个实现自己已定目标的新机会。