“Sustainability” has become a popular word these days, but to Ted Ning, the concept will always have personal meaning. Having endured a painful period of unsustainability in his own life made it clear to him that sustainability-oriented values must be expressed through everyday action and choice. 　　Ning recalls spending a confusing year in the late 1990s selling insurance. He’d been through the dot-com boom and burst and, desperate for a job, signed on with a Boulder agency. It didn’t go well. “It was a really bad move because that’s not my passion,” says Ning, whose dilemma about the job translated, predictably, into a lack of sales. “I was miserable. I had so much anxiety that I would wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling. I had no money and needed the job. Everyone said, ‘Just wait, you’ll turn the corner, give it some time.’”

最近，“承受力”已经成为了一个流行词。但是，对特德·宁来说，他对这个词有着自身的体会。在忍受了一段痛苦的、难以为继的生活之后，他清楚地认识到，以提高承受力为导向的生活价值必须通过每日的行为和抉择来体现。 宁回忆了在上个世纪90年代末的浑浑噩噩的一年，那时他卖保险。在经历了网络经济的兴盛和衰败之后，他急需一份工作，于是和一家博德的代理公司签了合约。 事情进展不顺，“那的确是很糟糕的选择，因为不是我热情所在，”宁如是说。不出所料，工作上的窘境造成销售业绩不佳。“我很痛苦，焦虑不安以致常常会在半夜醒来，盯着天花板发愣。我没钱，需要这份工作。每个人都说，等等看，会有转机的，慢慢来。