To rekindle his passion for life, a man has given up his white-collar job to be come a construction worker.

Earlier this year, Tu Jian, 28, gave up his marketing director post at a Guangzhou company with an annual pay of 150,000 yuan ($24,438).

On Feb 25, Tu joined his relative's construction team and started working at a residential construction site in Changsha, Hunan province.

“I had the idea in my head for almost two years,” he told Xiaoxiang Morning Post.“I wanted to find the real me.”

Work at the construction site was not easy. Tu was exhausted after working for 13 hours the first day, and two days later he stepped on a 20 mm nail, which pierced through one of his feet.

Tu had worked for almost five months until July 21, when the construction project came to an end.

Tu, who previously weighed 74 kg, said he has lost 12 kg, and earned 40,000 yuan for the hard labor.

He said the experience has enabled him to say goodbye to his dispirited and impulsive old self.

“One day, when I recall the over 140 days at the construction site, what I will remember is not the 40,000 yuan but the weight I had lost,” he said.