After a tough day, do you come home and flop¹ in your easy chair, grab a bag of chips and zone out in front of the television? Or maybe you compulsively check your e-mail, spend hours surfing the net or stay up late chatting with strangers on Facebook or Twitter. Whether you get lost in cyberspace², over shop, watch too much TV, gossip, bite your nails, daydream³ excessively, procrastinate⁴ or over-exercise, you may be caught in a “soft addiction”.

 

奔忙一天以后，你是不是一回家就窝在舒适的椅子里，顺手拿包薯片，然后就在电视机前把它们消灭光？或者，你会时不时不自觉地查邮箱、长时间泡在网上，跟社交网站上的人们聊天到很晚？不管你是迷失在网络空间、过度消费、或者看电视时间太久、八卦、咬指甲、成天做白日梦、总是拖延或运动过度，你都很有可能是染上了“软瘾”。

 

Soft addictions⁵ are seemingly harmless habits that rob us of our time, zap our energy, numb⁶ us from our feelings, mute our consciousness and keep us from living the satisfying, meaningful lives we desire.

 

“软瘾”是一些并无明显害处的习惯，只是这些习惯会消耗我们的时间和精力，让我们感觉麻木、失去意识，阻止我们追求我们想要的那种有意义的、满足的生活。

 

Soft Addictions can be activities, moods or ways of being, avoidances, and things-edible and consumable. Many soft addictions involve necessary behaviors like eating, reading, and sleeping. They become soft addictions when we overdo⁷ them and when they are used for more than their intended purpose.

 

“软瘾”可以是某些活动、情绪或存在方式，也可以是某种逃避心理或者可食用、可消耗的事物。很多“软瘾”都不可避免地与进食、阅读及睡觉有关。当我们做某件事过了头，违背了这件事初衷的时候，我们就是患上了“软瘾”。

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