Overcoming Fear with Steve Jobs: Confessions of a Saudi Diva

overcoming fear

Almost every time I meet someone, a question arises from the FAQ’s that I’ve been addressing in this series of posts! The most recent incident was at a new coffee shop launch event. An Australian woman flooded me with an avalanche of questions. She immediately asked about my country, life, and personal preference to not wear a hair scarf. Of course, I directed her to my blog. I sent her my link the next day so she can find all the answers to her questions 🙂

I’ll continue with the story of how I attempted to leave home and Saudi Arabia.

After graduating from the University of Bahrain, I didn’t know where to look for jobs. I managed to get a role in an IT department in Saudi Aramco. However, I was working as a contractor employee. After around one year of working in that department, I left. A few months later, I joined a different department in Saudi Aramco (ECC Help Desk). I was also working as a contractor employee. Because of time and boring content reasons, I will skip explaining this job and move to when I decided to leave a corporate job in IT support with Saudi Aramco. I did mention a few things about the type of environment in a previous post, though. So you can read about that side of the job. 

Overcoming Fear

While attending a Lifestyle Design Workshop in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, I was asked by the course instructor about the reason that made me make that decision of overcoming fear.

When I answered the question at the workshop, I forgot to mention a YouTube video that I had watched at my office desk while I was still working in IT support. I was miserable in my role, I didn’t think the job matched my character or interests, and I reached a point where I couldn’t tolerate the situation any longer. The first thing that gave me the power to decide to leave my job was Steve Job’s inspirational speech at Stanford University. You can watch it here.

The part that resonated with me the most was when he said: “If you’re not happy doing what you’re doing and you don’t look forward to the next day, then it’s time for a change.” Or something like that. I hadn’t watched that video since 2008 – shortly before I decided to quit my corporate IT support job.

Steve Jobs Stanford Motivational Video

overcoming fear

I’m not saying that I wasn’t thinking of a change before watching that video. However, Steve Jobs’ motivational words were the primary catalyst behind my decision. It was like the tip of the iceberg, as they say—the last straw. I just needed someone wise to tell me to make a move, and it happened to be Steve Jobs.

I was also asked at the Lifestyle Design Workshop if I had any regrets about my decision. We were mainly talking about my major decision to leave home and Saudi and not specifically about quitting my job. I answered that I had no regrets so far. Honestly, I was only diplomatic in a room full of educated, professional and intelligent women. But the real answer is: “I genuinely wish I had made that decision much earlier.” So not only do I not regret it, I think it was such a wise and positive decision that I should’ve made it a long time ago. But of course: a) everything happens for a reason. b) I’m explaining to you now how I did try to make that move when I was only 18, and I failed. So it’s not like I hadn’t given it a go when I was much younger.

I plan to write another post about how my late decision has affected me as a person and how it largely influenced my character and my relationships with others. This will be an interesting post for everyone who is looking to take a big or risky life-changing decision.

Discovering Myself

After quitting my corporate IT support job in the summer of 2008, I spent a whole year discovering myself. I found my interests, career prospects, read spiritual books including the Quran. I would say that taking a spiritual approach towards my decision was the main empowering element that helped me make that big leap.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make to pack everything that is of importance to me and to leave. At that time, no one knew that this would be a one-way trip and that I wouldn’t visit home again. Until today, I’m not sure if I’ll be back. Some external factors might force me to go back or to visit. But what I know is that the words of a former colleague at my first internship in Dubai were right. She told the editor or another lady at the office: “Yes, she left Saudi, and she’s not going back.”

All I recall is that at that time, I wasn’t 100% certain that I will never be back. This conversation was sometime in May or June of 2010 – shortly after I first moved to Dubai. Almost six years later, I still haven’t visited Saudi or been back for any reason.

To find out what happened when I moved from Saudi to London in August of 2009 (the last time I was in Saudi), click here.

I hope that you found some inspiration in this post about overcoming fear to make a life-altering decision. I believe that we should all have the courage to leave negative life situations that might limit our progress and hold us back from our life purposes and dreams.

Wishing you a lovely and inspirational week ahead XXX