Recently, I had drinks with some friends and a few of their friends. Eager to get to know new people, I started chatting with one particular person about her job. Her responsibilities include riding boats with fishermen to regulate the environmental impact of their work.
最近，我和一些朋友以及他们的朋友们一起喝了一次酒。因为我比较想结识新朋友，就开始和一个比较特别的人聊起她的工作。她主要是和渔民一起出海，以规范他们的工作对环境的影响。

After browsing through gorgeous pictures of her daily travels, I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Your job looks like so much fun!”
在浏览了她日常旅途中的精彩照片后，我不禁感叹道:“你的工作看起来太有趣了!”

When I told her what I do—which is mainly sit at a desk and write stuff—it suddenly felt a lot less cool and exciting.
当我告诉她我所做的事情主要是坐在办公桌上写东西时，突然发现我的工作没那么酷和刺激。

Saddled with that newfound distaste for my seemingly boring desk job, I quickly reminded myself of something important: No job is fun all of the time.
我对看起来就很枯燥的办公室工作又产生了新的厌恶，但是我很快就提醒自己一件重要的事情：没有一份工作总是充满乐趣。

You may say, “But Alyse, what about Netflix watchers or ice cream tasters? What about people who work on movie sets, in breweries, or for video game companies?”
你可能会说：“但是那些Alyse, Netflix的观众和冰淇淋品尝师呢?那些在电影片场、啤酒厂或电子游戏公司工作的人呢?”

To which I’d respond, sure, those could be fun—I’d have no reason to think otherwise (hit me up when I change careers to work at Ben and Jerry’s). But, you know what’s far more likely? They’re also hard work, like any other job.
对此我的回答是，当然，这些可能很有趣——我没有理由不这么想（就像当我转行到Ben and Jerry’s工作时）。但是，你知道什么可能性更大吗？和其他工作一样，他们也很辛苦。

I have a friend who has in fact worked on a movie set. He’ll be the first to tell you that seeing famous people up close and being part of a film coming to fruition is pretty thrilling, but he’d also admit that his day-to-day work was surprisingly uneventful.
我有一个朋友，他在电影片场工作过。他会第一个告诉你，近距离看名人，参与一部即将上映的电影是非常激动人心的，但他也承认，他的日常工作平淡无奇。

Your job can and should be a lot of things—fulfilling, energizing, rewarding, challenging—but it doesn’t always have to be fun. And you shouldn’t expect it to be.
你的工作可以而且应该有很多事情要做——充实、充满活力、有回报、富有挑战性——但并不总是那么有趣，你也不应该期望你的工作总是有趣。

This isn’t to say that you won’t (or shouldn’t) be happy in your career, or that you won’t have exciting moments. Interviewing one of the first undocumented lawyers in NY state and turning our work area into a creepy carnival for our company’s Halloween desk decorating competition were truly fun experiences I’ve had on the job.
这并不是说你在职业生涯中不会（或不应该）快乐，也不是说你不会有激动人心的时刻。比如采访纽约州第一批无证律师之一，还有万圣节办公桌装饰比赛时把我们的办公区变成一场恐怖的狂欢，都是我在工作中真正有趣的经历。

My point is that your role isn’t necessarily meant to be a 24/7 enjoyable experience—that’s why you get a paycheck for doing it. Your job will never (and isn’t meant to!) inspire the same sense of glee that say, riding a roller coaster, watching a football game, or partying with your friends on a Friday night does. And think about it: If riding roller coasters was your day job, wouldn’t it eventually become less fun? Watching Netflix on the weekends can be a blast, but if it was an obligation five days a week, don’t you think it’d lose that appeal?
我认为你的角色不一定要会带给你全天候愉快的体验，因为这是你得到薪酬的原因。你的工作也永运不会（也不意味着）像坐过山车、看足球比赛或者周五晚上和朋友聚会那样带来同样的喜悦感。试想一下，假如坐过山车是你的日常工作，它最终是否会变得不那么有趣吗？周末看Netflix的剧可能会很爽，但如果一周看五天的话，你认为它还会那么吸引人吗？

When I reconnected with that friend of a friend at another gathering, I asked her how her job was going. This time, I didn’t immediately jump in to say something about how awesome her latest trip looked, and I’m glad I didn’t. Instead, I let her vent about some of the more frustrating parts of her role (see, even she has them!) and we talked about her long-term plans.
当我在另一次聚会上再次和我那位朋友的朋友见面时，我问她工作进展如何。这一次，我没有立即插嘴说她最近的旅行看起来有多棒，我也很庆幸我没有。相反，我让她吐槽一下她工作中令人沮丧的部分（看，其实她也有），然后我们谈论了一下她的长远计划。

Remember, what’s considered fun is different for everyone, and it exists both inside and outside the workplace. But it’s not a constant and ever-present force. Realistically, you can’t enjoy yourself all of the time—no matter where you are or what you’re doing.
记住，有趣的东西对每个人来说都是不一样的，它在工作场所内外都存在，但是它不会持续存在。实际上，无论你在哪里，无论你在做什么，你都不可能一直享受自己。

I’ll end on this note: Be OK with a career that isn’t always fun. Focus on the things that matter more—cultivating the skills and interests you value, making change that means something to you, and interacting with people who make you feel good. It’s this stuff that proves that your career is about way more than just having a good time.
最后我想说的是：不要介意一份工作是否总是很有趣，关注那些更重要的事情，培养你看重的技能和兴趣，做出对你来说有意义的改变，和让你感觉良好的人交流。正是这些东西证明了你的职业生涯不仅仅只是玩儿得开心。

 

（翻译：雅兰）