10.3.19

They say yes to “Lawtze” – but leaving the day job isn’t a spur of the moment decision, instead it’s a courageous adventure into the unknown

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.

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.
Having done “lawtze”, Pink realized her first dream – to travel to South America and learn Spanish. Mastering Spanish, she gained unique experience beyond what common backpackers could have, such as chatting with the Cuban old man in this photo.

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.

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.

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.

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