The other day, I had a weird realization.
Just about every day at work for me has a reference to the Office. My coworkers have even started saving Tweets like this one for me; they don’t always get the references, but they know I will.
But I’ve never actually written about my disproportionate love for that show (you know, aside from a handful of references).
So today, to celebrate my weird obsession with everything Office-related, I thought I’d talk about the best lessons I’ve learned from it!
It’s okay to let your geek flag fly—even if no one gets what you’re doing.
On more than one occasion, Dwight walks himself into Dunder Mifflin on Halloween wearing a costume that no one else understands.
Exhibit A: His Sith lord costume
No one seems to understand what a Sith lord is, and he even gets accused of being dressed up as a monk or a ninja. But despite the disbelief, Dwight proudly remains in his costume (and character) for the rest of the day.
Exhibit B: His Kerrigan costume
This meets with even more confusion and judgment than his Sith lord outfit, but that doesn’t matter. Dwight carries on in his elaborate-if-censored outfit for the day.
He does eventually get a little despondent that no one understands, at least until he meets a fellow geek who’s familiar with Starcraft. And then? He’s back to his regular old self.
It’s important to fight for your passions.
There will always be people who don’t believe in you or what you’re doing. And sometimes, you’ll just have to ignore those people and carry on.
The biggest example of this, for me, is Pam’s mural. She’s finally built up the confidence to paint something other people will actually see—just in time for someone to unapologetically spray-paint a bunch of butts on it.
So what does she do about it?
She gets revenge through a horrible mural temporarily painted onto his truck (not a necessary step, but definitely an amusing one) and carries on creating an even better mural than before.
Nobody likes a suck-up.
After the merger between Scranton and Stamford, Michael finds himself with a very attentive new friend, Andy. Andy is a textbook suck-up, always agreeing with his new boss and acting like they have literally everything in common.
And even Michael Scott, the man known for needing to be liked, finds it to be too much.
Those are just a few of the life lessons I’ve learned from watching the Office over and over, but they’ve been such great ones for me!
YOUR TURN
