A career ventured; a life regained
By Raya Tarawneh
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“Over the years,
the real person inside of us gets tangled in the cobweb of building careers, we
forget our true essence,” writes author Batoul Ajlouni in her recently
published memoir, Ditching Success?اضافة اعلان
Ditching Success? delves into Ajlouni’s decision to resign from an executive role at a company that she had been pouring her heart into for decades – since its very inception in the late 1980s.
“The book is not about success,” explained Ajlouni in an interview with Jordan News.
“Much of what I describe in the book is a lot related to the long duration of being consistently under stress.”
“Leaving a company I have worked so hard to see succeed… Does that make me ditch success? Or is there success elsewhere? That’s why I have the question mark there,” she said of her book’s title.
“If I’m doing nothing, or if I’m doing something else, does that make me unsuccessful? Does that make me really have ditched success? I want people to have these questions in mind.”
While Ajlouni spoke candidly about the need to challenge conventional notions of success, she initially struggled to get to this point.
At several points in her memoir, Ajlouni expresses reluctance to turn her back on her career.
“I felt like a sudden drifter waiting helplessly for the wind to take me to whichever direction it was headed, dropping me off at some location along the way,” she writes.
Yet, despite looming self-doubt and uncertainty, Ajlouni remained hopeful.
“There had to be something else out there for me to do, I thought. Another purpose to fulfill. Another way to make an impact on the world,” she writes.
Reflecting on the best thing to come out of her decision to leave her corporate job, Ajlouni told Jordan News: “Going back to myself. Work changed me, changed my priorities. I’m happy to be going back to the things that matter most at this age, to family.”
Asked who ideally she would like to pick up her memoir at a bookstore, Ajlouni said that while she had people between the ages of 45 and 60 in mind, her book is directed at anyone who feels stressed at work.
Specifically, “adults grappling with the question: what do I do next?”
“I was hoping to give them some kind of courage... to say: you know what? It’s not the end of the world. Make that change, it’ll be okay,” she said.
As such, three messages are imbued in her memoir.
“The first message is as an early warning sign to people, try to avoid burnout if you can. The second message is, if you do get sucked into it, try to fix or ditch it. The third message is to be hopeful once you make the change.”
She wants her readers “to be inspired that someone else has gone through this… [to know] they’re not alone.”
Read more Books in Lifestyle
Ditching Success? delves into Ajlouni’s decision to resign from an executive role at a company that she had been pouring her heart into for decades – since its very inception in the late 1980s.
“The book is not about success,” explained Ajlouni in an interview with Jordan News.
“Much of what I describe in the book is a lot related to the long duration of being consistently under stress.”
“Leaving a company I have worked so hard to see succeed… Does that make me ditch success? Or is there success elsewhere? That’s why I have the question mark there,” she said of her book’s title.
“If I’m doing nothing, or if I’m doing something else, does that make me unsuccessful? Does that make me really have ditched success? I want people to have these questions in mind.”
While Ajlouni spoke candidly about the need to challenge conventional notions of success, she initially struggled to get to this point.
At several points in her memoir, Ajlouni expresses reluctance to turn her back on her career.
“I felt like a sudden drifter waiting helplessly for the wind to take me to whichever direction it was headed, dropping me off at some location along the way,” she writes.
Yet, despite looming self-doubt and uncertainty, Ajlouni remained hopeful.
“There had to be something else out there for me to do, I thought. Another purpose to fulfill. Another way to make an impact on the world,” she writes.
Reflecting on the best thing to come out of her decision to leave her corporate job, Ajlouni told Jordan News: “Going back to myself. Work changed me, changed my priorities. I’m happy to be going back to the things that matter most at this age, to family.”
Asked who ideally she would like to pick up her memoir at a bookstore, Ajlouni said that while she had people between the ages of 45 and 60 in mind, her book is directed at anyone who feels stressed at work.
Specifically, “adults grappling with the question: what do I do next?”
“I was hoping to give them some kind of courage... to say: you know what? It’s not the end of the world. Make that change, it’ll be okay,” she said.
As such, three messages are imbued in her memoir.
“The first message is as an early warning sign to people, try to avoid burnout if you can. The second message is, if you do get sucked into it, try to fix or ditch it. The third message is to be hopeful once you make the change.”
She wants her readers “to be inspired that someone else has gone through this… [to know] they’re not alone.”
Read more Books in Lifestyle
