On 25th April 2015,
encountering the immense magnitude-7.8 earthquake, Pink Lee began a
fund-raising project and established the non-profit organization “Light On”.
An Chinese article done by JobsDB.com
(Translated by Hing Sing Yuen)
There’s a
contemporary Chinese phrase ‘lawtze’(literally “resign nakedly”) meaning to
leave your job with no replacement in mind. Pink Lee is one of them: here’s her
story.
You might
think people who “lawtze” do so because of their unreasonably demanding bosses,
the worsening imbalance between workload and salary, or the need to work with
helplessly idiotic colleagues. “I want to adventure outside Hong Kong before I
am 30 (which is the age limit of apply for the working holiday visa)…” Everyone
has their own reasons to “lawtze”, and quite a lot of people do so in order to
realize their dreams. Pink Lee is one of them.
First
generation guru of naked resignation – I am going to embrace the world!
Ten years
ago, before “lawtze” entered Chinese slang, although she had respectable career
as a finance journalist, Pink Lee followed an intense calling in her heart and
traveled alone to Tibet as a backpacker. “That
trip changed my life completely, and is still my most important life-changing
decision.” she said.
Despite
being poor, the Tibetans Pink met were happy; on the other hand, having plenty
of resources, Hongkongers always seemed to have frowning faces. The most
inspiring moment for her was when a backpacker told her, “if you grasp your
fist tight, you only own the tiny bit in your hand. But if you release your
fist, you own the whole world.”
She
remarked, “those words opened my eyes in an instant. At that moment, I decided
that when I got back to Hong Kong, I would save as much as I could and then ‘lawtze’
to travel around the globe and embrace the world.”
During
her work as a finance journalist, Pink traveled alone to Tibet, encountered
friendly locals, and learned life-changing lessons from other backpackers.
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How
many “workless” ten years are there in one’s life?
Having
saved money for two years and handed in her resignation letter, Pink set off on
her journey. “My former dream was the same as every regular Hongkonger, which
was a promising career and wealth. So, when I resigned, my original plan was to
come back and work in Hong Kong after roaming around the world like a carefree
bird for a year.” Pink said.
Surprisingly,
the money she saved was enough for her to travel around the globe for 2 years
and 3 months, and even enough to pay for her expenses during her short-term
stay after coming back to Hong Kong. “My experience during these two years
utterly transformed my life. My craving to become a famous journalist had turned
into a kind of vanity for me. Now I just wanted to go with the flow, and find
happiness in my heart.” Pink said.
That gap
year unexpectedly shaped her into a Buddhist-ish girl, because of one stop on
her journey – India. Encountering spiritual practices such as yoga, meditation,
she realized that the most important thing was the present moment, and there
was no need to fear the future or to keep harking back to the past.
Since coming
back to Hong Kong, she has only been working as a freelancer (translator,
writer, yoga and meditation instructor). Time flies, and it has been ten years.
“I’d never
imagined that I could live without going to work for ten years. In fact, if
you’re too anxious about money and derive your sense of security from it,
you’ll miss a variety of opportunities. Reflecting on her ten-year experience
as a freelancer, Pink concluded, “happiness doesn’t come from the external world
but resides in your heart.”
Through her
spiritual practice, Pink switched her outward attention to her internal world, and
discovered happiness and love, which she had always been longing for.
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Once again on the path of “lawtze”
Before Pink
became a “slashie[1]”,
her ex-boss almost persuaded her to go back as a finance journalist. “Although
I could earn an even better wage than before, I didn’t feel I belonged to that world.
The job didn’t mean anything to me any longer.” After a mere three months of
work, she “lawtze” again.
“The common
idea is that people who “lawtze” are courageous people who can leave their
comfort zones. But the fact is, we’re just following our instincts; We don’t
care about negative opinions from people around us. If you receive too many
criticisms or negative opinions, you’ll always stay in your snail shell, not
knowing the greatness of the external world.” Pink chuckled, “I “lawtze” not
because of courage but ‘recklessness’.”
Starting
as a volunteer English tutor for the children at Edventure Nepal, seven years
later, she has become a family member of these twelve children.
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If she
wasn’t “reckless”, she wouldn’t have the chance to roam around South America,
Europe, India and Nepal, and she wouldn’t have started her volunteer work; if
she didn’t “lawtze” for the second time, the non-profit charity for Nepalese children,
“Light On”, wouldn’t exist.
“Even if I
got a different job, I would still work selflessly just as I am doing for Light
On now. Because when you’ve seen your path, the end destination is always the
same.” Pink said.
[1]
A person with multiple jobs, whose job
description has multiple slashes, e.g. artist/model/photographer.