Hi!5 Grzegorz Hajdukiewicz, Head of Delivery - Sabbatical Leave Story

Six and a half years after I joined Monterail, even though I was still eager to face new challenges, I knew I needed to rest. Everybody deserves and needs some time to think things through, clear their mind, and relax even though there are people who claim they don’t.

I loved my job when I started working here as a Project Manager. I liked it even more when, with our team growing, I got promoted to Head of Project Management. I’m currently combining that role with the position of Head of Delivery which gives me absolute satisfaction and happiness. Even though I needed to rest—so I did. Here's my story of a sabbatical leave. 

Planning

I’m a manager and my days are fully organized. Even when I’m not running from one meeting to another, I’m continuously crossing out previously planned activities from my to-do list. This is very satisfying but I realized that I need a getaway during my sabbatical. So my plan was not to plan anything or at least almost anything. I wanted to finally be able to wake up in the morning and only then decide what I wanted to do that day. It worked like a charm for me.

Yoga in the mountains

The only “real” vacation plan I had was to participate in 1-week long Yoga workshops in Bieszczady - beautiful mountains in south-eastern Poland. This was my second time taking part in such an event so I knew what to expect. And it was not disappointing at all. I spent a wonderful time there practicing yoga twice every day. That, combined with spontaneous hiking, no cell signal and dozens of books that I took there made a perfect vacation start for me.

Bieszczady mountains.

Homegrown mechanic

Over a year ago, when the pandemic started, my girlfriend and I decided we need to do something to keep us sane. Accidentally (trust me, it’s possible) we bought a ’99 Mazda Miata (MX-5) from a friend. Soon after that, this car has become our main mean of transportation. We started traveling around Wrocław (which is where we live), getting to know all the beautiful places which we didn’t know so far. With the top down, needless to say, catching sun and wafting scent of canola fields .

Not much later than that, this car has become our project and like any personal project, the list of features and upgrades never ends. In the meantime, my girlfriend got another Miata for herself - lovely black ’97 with adorable pop-up headlights.

I was in the “fixing stuff” mood during my sabbatical so I worked on these cars. A lot. I’ve learned so many things and committed so many failures as I wouldn’t be able if not for that extra, free time I was given. That was a great and rewarding experience. And most importantly, both still work!
Grzegorz working on his new-old car

Back to the reality

I wasn’t doing much during my time-off which I think was the best that could have happened to me. My come back to work was smooth thanks to the fact that I felt so much fresher, more focused, and present than before. I feel like I came back to school after a summer holiday. I was a little bit scared, yet very excited and eager to get back to work.