Yesterday was the end of my fourth year in St. Oberholz. As every year, there is a farewell photo of me in front of one of our coworking spaces. For me personally, it was the hardest, most stirring, and most challenging year in St. Oberholz.
In my opinion, this year was mainly characterized by emotional and structural challenges. I have to admit that this has left its mark on me. Maybe that’s normal after such a period at a company, but for me, they were new experiences.
I’ve never been with a company for so long, and that may be the reason why this year feels different. Up to now, everything always seemed to me as if it was just going forward. Then this year, I suddenly experienced setbacks.
“I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.“
Jack Kerouac
You can’t do anything without help.
It may sometimes be a burden to work with your wife in the same company. If there are professional problems, you experience them twice, because in the evening you go through everything again at home with your partner. On the other hand, you also experience positive things twice.
Kati was an essential support for me this year, and as always, I couldn’t have done it without her. The same goes for my colleague Katy. Our relationship was also marked by difficult phases this year. In the end, I understood that I could not do without her as a colleague.
A growing company needs a team that works well together, and we have rebuilt this in coworking this year. Even in the most challenging phases of change, I was able to rely on many very great people, for which I am grateful.
A time-out at the right time.
It seems that we, as a company, have done our homework, and we can enter the new year with full confidence. Personally, I will only be able to witness part of this, because, from April 2020, I will leave St. Oberholz and take parental leave for a year.
It feels like this new stage of life comes at the right time. After four years at St. Oberholz, I am looking forward to a break from the company. I look forward to meeting our first child and finding out what it is like to be a father and what that means.
Besides these new experiences that Kati and I expect as young parents, everything is already moving into the background. Nevertheless, I am curious about how parental leave will change me and what I will then think about work. But above all, what I want to do afterward.
Header Image: Tobias Kremkau, Berlin 2019
