Write / Travel / Live
Victoria Yeung shares her experience of challenging the conventional way of life by embracing multiple identities. She finds that travel is a voyage of self-discovery as well as a new departure for foreign lands.
Setting out alone on a trip to an unfamiliar destination takes courage, as does breaking free from your comfort zone to explore life’s possibilities. Victoria Yeung has embraced this spirit, carving out her life in three directions, as a lawyer, travel writer and singer, driven by chance and her adventurous heart.
“Why not keep on writing?”
Victoria has always loved travelling and sharing her thoughts on social media, but after completing her law degree at the University of Hong Kong in 2015, she first followed convention, working as a solicitor in a corporate office, clocking in from 9 to 6 and often staying until midnight. But the monotony of the routine wore her down. Six years into her career, she felt lost and craved a life with greater scope. “I never thought I could stick to the same job for six years. After all, I’m terrified of getting bored,” she wrote on social media.
But each time Victoria felt like quitting, she changed her mind. Reflecting on her journey now, she realises how gradually her attitude to work and life shifted and rather than hitting the career reset button, she began exploring hobbies and taking on new projects during weekends.
“Eventually, I realised that constraints I thought had been imposed by my job were actually self-imposed,” she recalls. “Once that perspective changed, I found balancing work and life wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined. I became more motivated and more efficient at my full-time job.”
Then, in 2023, another turning point came. On her way back from a trip to Georgia and Armenia, she lost her camera’s memory card. Feeling overwhelmed, she turned to writing as an emotional outlet. Sharing her thoughts on Instagram Reels, she received hundreds of messages from others who had experienced similar losses. “The incident made me realise how much I love sharing, so I asked myself: why not keep on writing?” And finally, she felt ready to move beyond a life solely centred on her professional career.
From then on, Victoria began managing her social media accounts more carefully and writing more frequently. With nearly 40,000 followers on Instagram and YouTube, she embraced her writing with a passion and built a second career as a writer, vlogger, and singer. In 2024, she published her first book, Travel Moments (是旅行也是人生), and released her debut single—crossing two major goals off her bucket list and officially kicking off her journey as a slasher.
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“Slashers” are individuals who engage simultaneously in multiple jobs or identities – a trend often represented by the “/” symbol in their titles. This trend has gained traction, especially among millennials and the younger generations, as they prefer flexibility and diverse experiences over traditional career paths. The concept originated in the West but has been adopted widely in places like China, where it resonates with urban, educated youth seeking to redefine success beyond conventional norms. The phenomenon reflects broader economic changes and shifting values that often contrast with traditional careers. While this new employment model gives more flexibility and diverse experiences, widespread scepticism remains due to concerns about reliability, income variability, and the ability to maintain high standards across multiple professions. |
“Adding value is about doing less.”
Victoria admits the biggest challenge of being a slasher is overcoming doubts about her professionalism as a lawyer/writer/singer. “Traditional perceptions value commitment to a single profession. People think I’m not fully dedicated to anything. The most stressful part is when others assume I’m not doing well enough. I had to remind myself why I started, what I believe in and avoid comparing myself to others.”
Balancing multiple roles also takes a toll. “I was beginning to feel schizophrenic,” she says, especially when she realised the self-discipline required to manage her time. Eventually, she learned that adding value isn’t about doing more but about doing less. “I used to think time management meant packing everything into a schedule. Now I know it’s about prioritising and letting go of what’s unimportant. People think I do a lot, but the truth is I’ve sacrificed much of my social life with friends.”
The post-COVID shift toward flexible work arrangements has allowed Victoria more opportunities to travel and explore life beyond the office. As long as she manages clients effectively and earns her colleagues’ trust, her role as a lawyer remains a cornerstone of her life.
“My life isn’t about dedicating everything to a single career but about walking multiple paths simultaneously,” Victoria says. She emphasises that pursuing writing doesn’t mean giving up her legal profession. Instead, she believes the skills gained in one field can enhance another, creating a mutually beneficial dynamic.
Sharing her views with Youth Hong Kong, Victoria thinks the uptick in the slasher trend has its roots in social media and young people’s search for meaningful experiences. She views this shift in work culture as a positive change, which allows people to explore themselves. “To thrive as a slasher, you need to be unafraid of trying, stay adaptable, and be a fast learner,” she advises.
“My old values started to fall apart.”
Victoria’s solo travels over the years have defined her ability to question herself, overcome difficulties and face uncertainties. The positive changes she has seen in herself have motivated her, time after time, to set off for new, unknown destinations. “Travel is always a journey and it’s changed me along the way,” she shares. She still remembers her first trip to South America nine years ago.
“I had just graduated, full of excitement, thinking the world was so big with so much to see.”
To save money, she took three or four connecting flights to reach Peru—only to arrive and discover her luggage had been lost. “It was winter, I didn’t even have a coat and I couldn’t speak the language. That three-month trip to South America was full of unexpected challenges. But whenever life gets tough, I think back to that trip and how I got through it.”
Drawing on the courage gained from her travels, Victoria has learned to have honest conversations with herself. “Through those journeys, I discovered endless possibilities. Growing up in a traditional education system, I thought life would be about sitting in an office and dedicating yourself to one thing. But as I travelled and met more people, my old values began to fall apart.”
Victoria recalls spending time with a nomadic tribe and asking them which city they’d like to live in. They turned the question back on her: “Why would anyone want to live in a city?” “That question stuck with me,” she reflects. “It made me wonder—why do we assume city life is the only way? I realised people live in countless ways, driven by values completely different from mine.”
For Victoria, the future is not something in the distance. She once believed in a rigid life plan, mapping out what needed to be done in the next three, five, and ten years. But over time, she has learned that as long as she focuses on getting things done in the coming weeks, everything else will fall into place.
While a full-time job offers financial stability, Victoria knows she will continue exploring and preparing for the unexpected. As she writes on social media: “It’s 2025 and I don’t think I need to shine as brightly as in 2024. I’d rather live more slowly, savouring each moment. I have no goals or expectations—only to keep feeling, trying, experiencing and living. I want to collect memories, hold onto my passion for life and trust that there’s always a pathway ahead.” ■