020 #article# Finding Substance in Nothing

I stood in our son, Zach’s room, staring at his cleaned-out, nearly empty closet. 

stare vt. & vi. 凝视; 瞪视 Charlotte stared at her in utter amazement.

“The only thing that will be on the floor will be my laundry basket, Mama!” His words were spoken with such pride and excitement, and in that moment, it hit me how grateful I am not only for our minimizing journey but for the timing of it. 

laundry 

n. 洗衣店, 洗衣房

洗好的衣服; 待洗的衣服

sb's words were spoken with... 某人的话

I am so thankful we did this while Zach is still living at home with us and that he has learned these hard life lessons alongside us and early in life. He recognizes the worth of uncluttered, unencumbered living, and he understands the enormous value to be found in the coveted realm of something called white space.

uncluttered  adj. 整齐的,整洁的  同 tidy

unencumbered adj. 没有阻碍的,不受妨碍的  cumber vt. 妨害 使受苦

the enormous value 巨大的价值

coveted adj. 梦寐以求的；垂涎的

realm n. 领域; 范围

Who could have even imagined, just a few years ago, that Zach’s closet would be so empty?

If you could have seen the piles of toys in his previous closet, you would have seen that they literally spanned the full length from floor to ceiling. His stuffed animals’ crate was so packed to the brim, some of those animals had not seen the light of day in a very long time.

span v. 跨度，贯穿，跨越

ceiling n. 天花板

so packed to the brim 塞的满满的

in a very long time 很长一段时间

The majority of those toys have now made their way into the hands of countless children over the past few years, and Zach’s joy over having a near empty closet is clear demonstration of how far we’ve come. 

made their way into the hands of countless children  通过很多方法到了无数孩子的手中

clear demonstration of how far we’ve come  清晰的证明了我们是如何一路走来的

Looking back, I realize that he has always been a person with few wants and having too many choices has been distressing to him. Though our intentions were good in “blessing” him with more than he needed, it turns out that we weren’t doing him any favors.

doing him any favors 帮他任何忙

He seems greatly relieved to be rid of the excess, and he showed that sparsely filled closet off to me like a medal of honor. 

rid vt. 使摆脱, 解除…的负担, 从…中清除

relieved v. 减轻；解除

Seeing Zach’s reaction to his near empty closet and thinking about how our minimizing journey has transformed our family’s perspective made me realize that there is great substance to be found in nothing. 

At first, it sounds like a contradiction, but carving out blocks of nothingness in every part of our lives has relieved enormous amounts of stress, decision fatigue, and overwhelm. This kind of reward is filled with immeasurable substance.

made me realize 让我意识到

contradiction n. 矛盾

enormous amounts of stress, decision fatigue, and overwhelm. 巨大的压力，决策疲劳和不知所措。

This kind of reward is filled with immeasurable substance. 这种奖励胜过一切。

Here are some areas we are finding substance in nothing:

1. Physical possessions.

There was a time before our minimizing journey that we felt every empty space should be occupied in our home. If the space was there, why not fill it up? It felt incomplete to “waste” space. 

Now, we stand back with a sense of deep fulfillment to see space that is occupied with nothing. Closet shelves with nothing that resembles clutter, drawers filled with nothing except what is used and needed, walls with spans of nothing except photos and things we love, kitchen cupboards with nothing except what we reach for and use, cleared-off countertops and tabletops with nothing weighing them down, entire sections of rooms with nothing but empty space—each time I spot one of these in our home, I feel a sense of peace that we have let go of so much and replaced it with nothing.

这段主要讲了家里的很多空间，其实除了必需的，不应该被占用着。

2. Time.

Before we sold our home, paid off all our debt, and released so much of what we “owned,” my husband had to work many hours of overtime every week just to keep us afloat. He felt tremendous guilt over the fact that Zach was growing up way too fast, and due to our indebtedness, he had no choice but to miss out on so much that was going on in Zach’s life. 

她们卖掉了房产和很多东西，偿还了债务，她的丈夫不用再为生计拼命加班工作了。在这之前他的丈夫对没有时间陪伴孩子成长而非常内疚。

Now that we don’t owe a cent of debt, our income needs have been drastically reduced, and my husband doesn’t have to work so many hours. Nothing owed equals less work and more substance-filled time together. 

没有了债务，收入需要也变少了，我的丈夫也不需要工作很多小时。拥有很少等于更少的工作和更充裕的时间。

It’s okay to fill your calendar days with nothing. “Nothing” allows for spontaneous adventure. “Nothing” paves the way for the seizing of golden opportunities. “Nothing” grants permission to take the day off guilt-free and indulge in family walks and heart to heart talks. There is wonderful freedom to be found in not filling every calendar block with busyness and intentionally filling them with nothing.

indulge vt. 满足；使沉迷于…；使高兴；纵容

heart to heart talks 贴心交流

3. Noise.

When is the last time you walked outside at night and listened to the sounds of nothing? These days, I do that often. I make a cup of something warm, open our kitchen door, walk out on to our balcony, and I stand there in the silence. 

balcony  n. 阳台；包厢；戏院楼厅

In that silence, I begin to hear the sound of my own thoughts. I touch base with who I am, contemplate the day that just passed, and make up my mind to be still.

在这种宁静中，我开始听到来自内心的声音，开始认识我自己，包括过去的一整天，我会继续如此下去。

All day long, our world is bombarded with loudness and chaos that invades our sense of calm. It is easy to lose ourselves in the process and succumb to the mindset that we have no choice but to participate in the madness. Shutting off the noise enables us to regroup and realign any perspective or priorities that have fallen victim to the demands of the noisy world around us. Silence is healing. It is a good thing to remove clamoring noise and substitute it with nothing.

bombarded vt. 轰炸；炮击

our sense of calm 我们的平静感觉

regroup and realign any perspective or priorities 重新组合和调整任何观点或优先事项

Silence is healing. 沉默正在治愈这一切。

4. Contentment.  满足

Following the outsourcing of my husband’s job, our family walked through a 21-month stretch of health issues and unemployment. After depleting our resources and every other back-up plan just to survive, we faced a whole new definition of “nothing.” 

The fear and struggle was real, but in those lean moments of severe testing and wondering how we would make it through, we experienced an invaluable epiphany: Contentment is not contingent upon money, job security, or things. 

is not contingent upon 不取决于

When everything else of “substance” was stripped away, standing in that uncertain, scary place, we still had each other. We are alive, and living this beautiful life together is a priceless gift.

Whether we prosper or have nothing, we have much to be grateful for, and we have everything we need. In this, true substance lies.

这篇文章主要讲的是极简主义，作者包括她的丈夫和孩子，一起开始学习极简主义后的生活改变，包括心态的改变等，让她明白了“nothing”的真正含义。