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PLAGUED with an unending list of health conditions, Huey Yee – who runs a small plant rehabilitation program – shared with The Vibes how she turned her life around and focused on what truly matters.
Growing up in a discordant home, Huey Yee, formally known as Soon Yee, felt the need to constantly remain vigilant and independent, not letting a hint of weakness come to light.
Spending most of her life fending not only for herself, but also ensuring that everyone else around her was taken care of, even as she had to finance her tertiary education while living on her own after being kicked out of the house, she became a very bitter young lady whose view on life was anything but positive.
“I was a very bad person. I cursed like a sailor, had a very bad temper and everything that went wrong was always someone else’s fault and never my own,” shared Huey Yee, reminiscing on her past.
Despite her deteriorating health condition, Soon Yee still refused to acknowledge the pains that she was going through and survived solely on painkillers, working at a bank as a financial consultant and in sales, and into the wee hours was just another day for her.
“I would work weekends and sometimes even till 3 to 4am. Now that I think of it, it really was crazy, but I didn’t feel the fatigue at that time because everything felt worth it when I got my paycheck at the end of the month.”
After almost a decade in the banking industry, Soon Yee quit her job to take care of her critically-ill father, as well as herself.
With the intention of returning to the workforce, Soon Yee was convinced that she would be able to jump back onto her feet as soon as she got all her health conditions ironed out.
Unfortunately, after years of neglecting her own health for others and especially for money, her body started to crumble within itself.
She found her first lump when she was still working at the bank, and is grateful that she still had a job then as the company covered all her medical bills, especially since she eventually went under the knife three times.
Since then, a multitude of illnesses just kept flooding in, and up till today, she still finds herself at the hospital on a regular basis and frequently has attacks that immobilise her for days.
Soon Yee had to use all her savings, fixed deposits and all of her financial investments – including her insurance plans – to pay for her medical bills after she quit her job at the bank; and returning would not be possible given her ongoing conditions.
“As a financial consultant, I understand how important it is to have an insurance plan. However, I couldn’t even afford to feed myself, what more to pay the monthly installments for my insurance?
“I was really depressed. I was in pain and couldn't do anything about it. I felt really useless. I couldn't walk, shower, or even change my own clothes. My husband had to do everything for me.”
While this all may sound extremely morbid and depressing, Huey Yee was nothing but laughter and sunshine when The Vibes spoke to her.
Even on the morning of the interview, Huey Yee reached out cheerfully to warn us that she might be a little late as she had to make another visit to the hospital as she found blood in her urine.
So, how is it that with everything stacked up against her, is she able to smile through it all?
“I’m not sure if this has anything to do with it, and I’m not particularly superstitious, but when I changed my name from Soon Yee to Huey Yee because ‘sifus’ were telling me that my name was too fierce, I started to notice a progressive change in my life.”
But that was not the only major change in her life.
Huey Yee soon realized after a close friend’s passing that, no matter how hard someone works and how many hours they put into planning, it all becomes disposable the moment we leave this earth.
“My best friend, the only one whom I felt like I could open up to, suddenly passed away and at her memorial, it was only me and another friend who were there to say our last goodbyes.
“At that moment I thought, ‘we work so hard, we suffer through our lives, and make so many plans, but at the end of the day, what is it for?’ One bye-bye and everything is gone.”
Since then, Huey Yee made it a point in her life to live everyday as if it was her last.
“Nowadays, people look at me like I am a freak. Especially with my health condition, they wonder how I am able to smile through the pain.
“I’m already in pain everyday, and instead of exuberating negative energy to others, which will only return to me, I’d rather radiate positive energy that will then return to me positively too. That way, when I make people laugh and bring happiness to them, I get happiness in return, and I feel better too,” shared Huey Yee.
“To me, I choose to be happy with the simple things in life. Kicking my feet, moving, walking, even annoying my husband makes me happy. I may not be earning much, but I want to live every day as if it were my last. I want a life that I won’t regret or even be unhappy with myself.”
Today, Huey Yee not only rehabilitates plants, but she also sells minimalist aquariums and vegan handmade soaps to earn a little bit of money to keep her and her husband afloat.
However, Huey Yee reminds The Vibes that she doesn’t treat what she does as a business because she does not want to fall back into that money-making mindset and also because she realises that when things become a business, the passion and effort in handling it changes.
Since gardening has been the one thing Huey Yee is able to do with her condition and it keeps her happy, she now has an amazing greenroom with mostly aloe vera plants that are just blooming with joy and are even overpopulating.
She even shared how her husband joked about their house becoming a jungle and how they will soon need to swipe the overgrowing greenery just to walk through their house.
Huey Yee’s joy comes from knowing that the plants that she has rehabilitated are flourishing, or that the guppies that she sold are multiplying.
Often in life, we tend to hold off plans just because we ‘don’t have the time’ or, ‘am saving up for something better.’
Yet, it is crucial for us to remember that time waits for no one, and the future is forever uncertain. So, focus on what truly matters in life, and what we can control – live each day without regrets. – The Vibes, June 5, 2021
