I Choose to Lie Flat: Going to Work Is Like Going to a Grave

My name is Li Sheng. I’m 28, a former UI designer at a major tech company, and now I’m unemployed and drifting from place to place. A round of layoffs sent me tumbling from my cubicle into the abyss of reality. My savings are almost gone, and Mom has secretly stopped her dialysis. No one responds to my job applications. At class reunions, I’m treated like a joke. Even the subway is full of ads urging people to take civil service exams. The rat race is suffocating, but I can’t even manage to lie flat. I’m so anxious I feel like a walking punchline. Then I bought a secondhand van and started livestreaming my life as a wandering odd-jobber. I mooch off Wi-Fi, sleep in the van, hand out flyers, and volunteer. I settle wherever things are cheap. Unexpectedly, my following kept growing, and I even connected with Tokyo’s “Satori Generation” and Seoul’s “N-po Generation.” It turns out young people all over the world are finding new ways to live. We’re not giving up; we’re refusing to let life push us around. I’m out on the road, recording life as it is and finding myself again. There are tears behind the laughter, but I haven’t stopped moving.