3.Downshifting

When I decided决定 to quit my full time employment全职 it never occurred 从未意识到me that I might become a part of a new international国际 trend趋势.

A lateral横向 move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional职业 progress 进展prompted促使 me to abandon放弃 my relatively相对 high profile高调 career工作 .

although, in the manner of a disgraced失势的 government minister部长, I covered掩盖 my exit by claiming声称 “I wanted to spend more time with family.”

Curiosity奇怪的是, some two-and-a-half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americas term “downshifting” has turned my tired陈词滥调的 excuse借口 into an absolute绝对的 reality.

I have bean transformed转变 from a passionate热情的 advocate倡导者 of the philosophy哲学 of “have it all”, preached宣扬的 by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the pages of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle 得到for a bit of everything.

I have discovered, as perhaps也行 Kelsey will after her much-publicized高调 resignation辞职 from the editorship主编 of She after a build-up of过大的 stress压力, that abandoning the doctrine 信条of “juggling忙碌 your life”, and making the alternative可替代的 move into “downshifting” brings with it far greater rewards than financial经济上的 success and social status.

Nothing could persuade说服 me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate倡导的 and I once enjoyed:12-hour working days, pressured压力 deadlines极限, the fearful 可怕的strain担忧 of office politics政治 and the limitations限制 of being a parent on “quality time”.

In America, the move away from juggling to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle is a well-established trend. Downshifting – also known in America as “voluntary simplicity” – has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed被称为 anti-consumerism. There are a number of bestselling畅销 downshifting self-help books for people who want to simplify their lives; there are newsletters时事新闻, such as The Tightwad Gazette, that give hundreds of thousands of Americans useful tips on anything from recycling their cling-film to making their own soap; there are even support groups for those who want to achieve达到 the mid- 90s equivalent平均水平 of dropping out辍学.

while in America, the trend started as a reaction反应 to the economic经济 decline衰退–after the mass大规模 redundance裁员 caused by downsizing in the late’80s -and is still linked to the politics of thrifty节俭， in Britain, at least among the middle class downshifting of my acquaintance认识, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.

For the woman of my generation这一代 who were urged被催促着 to keep juggling thought the '80s, downshifting in the mid-'90s is not so much a search for the mythical神话般 good life -growing your own organic有机 vegetables, and risking turning into one–as a personal recognition认知 of your limitations.

当我决定辞去我的全职工作时，我从未想过我可能会成为一种新的国际趋势的一部分。

一次横向的调动伤害了我的自尊心，阻碍了我的职业发展，促使了我放弃我的那份相对高调的职业。

尽管我像一个失去势力的政府部长一样，用"我想花更多的时间来与家人共处"来掩盖自己的退出。

奇怪的是，在两年半，我写完了两部小说后，我的在美国人称之为"放慢生活节奏"的实验中，我那陈词滥调的借口成为了绝对的现实。

我已经从一个 由 琳达、凯尔希在七年前在《她》杂志上 宣扬的 "拥有一切"的哲学的热情的倡导者，变成了一个满足于任何事物都只需要得到一点点的女人。

我发现，也行，凯尔希会发现，在她因过大的压力而高调辞去《她》杂志主编一职后，她会发现 放弃“忙忙碌碌地生活”的信条，转向“慢节奏生活”所带来的回报，远比经济上的成功和社会地位要大得多。

没有什么可以说服我返回到凯尔希曾经倡导的、我也曾经享受过的那种生活：每天工作12小时，极限的压力，可怕的官方政治担忧、以及在“最佳时机” 为人父母 的限制。

在美国，从复杂生活转向简单、更少物质的生活方式是一种既定的趋势。放慢生活节奏——令人苦笑不得的是在美国也被称为“自愿的简单生活”——甚至孕育出了一个可以被称为反消费主义的新领域。对于那些想要简化生活方式的人来说，有太多畅销的放松生活的自助书籍；时事通讯、比如《吝啬公报》，给美国人提供了成百上千的有用建议，从回收保洁膜，到自制肥皂，甚至还有一些支持团体，为了那些想要达到90年代中期辍学的人的平均水平服务。

同时，在美国，这一趋势最开始对经济衰退的一种反应-在80年代末期裁员导致大规模裁员潮后-现在仍然与节俭的政治有关。而在英国，至少在我认识的中产阶级极简生活者中，我们有不同的理由去寻求简化我们的生活。

对于我们这一代在上世纪80年代一直被催促着忙活的女人来说，90年代中期的慢节奏生活其说是寻找神话般的美好生活–自己种有机蔬菜、并且冒着成为一种有机蔬菜的风险，不如说是对自身局限性的个人认识。