Last April, just after dinner, Brian sat me down on the couch and said something that was the equivalent of the heart-stopping phrase, "We have to talk."

去年四月，刚刚吃过晚饭，Brian 让我坐在沙发上，用一种严肃而又紧张的语气说道：“我们得谈一谈”。

I remember this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, followed by the thought, Oh no, what have I done?

我依旧记得这种不是很好的感觉就像是有东西在胃里翻滚。紧随其后的是想，哦，不，我做了什么?

With the passing of my sister, Debbie, in February, we had both been through several brutal months, trying our best to survive as she slipped away from us. Neither one of us were getting much sleep, both of us deep in our grief, and I was finally back at work trying to tackle not one, but three, gigantic projects.

在过去的两个月，对我们来说是十分残酷的，我们尽最大的努力走出失去姐姐Debbie的阴影里。因为沉浸在悲痛中，我们整夜的失眠，难以入睡。我也终于回到我的工作岗位，解决三个大项目。

In the sweetest, most gentle voice, Brian began to share with me his massive concern for my health and well-being. With tears in his eyes, he told me he really felt that if I didn’t stop the long, intense hours and stressing out so much, he was afraid I would get very sick and possibly even "work myself to death."

在Brian 最甜美，最温柔的声音，他开始与我分享他的一些情绪，他表示很关心我的健康和内心的幸福感。泪水在他的眼中打转，他告诉我，他真的觉得，如果我不停止长期而又高强度的工作，他很怕我会生病难受，甚至“过劳死。”

As someone who has always been able to accomplish major things, juggle lots of simultaneous projects and withstand huge amounts of pressure, I normally would have just assured him that I could "power" through this period and deal with it all.

正如有些人可以很好的完成一些重要的事情，忙里忙外大量同时进行的项目，并承受大量的压力，我向他保证，我也是其中一员，有足够的力量应付这一切。

But there was something in the way he was approaching the conversation that made me stop and listen. With his sincere, openhearted vulnerability, I really, really heard him.And, I got that he was right.I was no longer the person who could do it all. My nervous system was shredded. I was out of "reserves" and running on fumes.

但是他采取了另一种方式靠近我，让我安静下来听他说话，和他交谈。随着他的真诚，坦难以掩饰的关心，我真的，真的听到了他内心的声音。他是对的!我不再是那个可以顶着压力完成一堆一堆项目的人了。现在我的神经系统处于半撕裂状态，处于储存能量的阶段，整个状态感觉在云端漫步。

As I sat there, trying to take it all in, trying to figure out what to "do" about my situation, I remembered something Debbie whispered to me in the middle of the night:"Take more vacations."I spent the next several days looking the calendar, trying to see when I could take a vacation and for how long.

我坐在那儿，试图想清楚我的一些情况，试图知道应该怎么做才能很好的解决这一情况。我突然想起Debbie夜半时曾在我耳边说：“给自己个假期吧”。接下来的几天，我一直在看日历，试图找出我可以休假多长时间。