What I’ve Learned From TV Shows

During my collegiate career, there are three things that occupied most of my time. Classes, studying, and my obsession for tv shows. Whether it was binge watching The Office on Netflix or attempting to suppress my immense excitement for the next episode of Sex in the City, I always made it a priority to live vicariously through my favorite tv characters most nights. However, it was not just the dry humor or the appealing sub plot that convinced me to spend hours upon hours watching episode after episode. It was the fact that the shows I was watching were subtly teaching me life lessons that I would never learn by reading some college textbook.

These shows  taught me about vital aspects of life and made me think about how I should ultimately live my own life. For example, Michael Scott from The Office, taught me an acronym that still resonates with me until this day. The acronym is spelled out as KISS and stands for “Keep it Simple Stupid.” This simply means that as a society, we sometimes seem to overthink things that we do not have any business overthinking in the first place. Sometimes all we need to do is keep it simple and go with the motions that life has set for us. It is so easy to overthink every vital aspect of our life that we often forget that life can be as simple as we make it. Not everything is an equation waiting to be broken down or a riddle waiting desperately to be solved. More often than not, keeping it simple can save a lot of time, money, effort, and most importantly, stress.

Another important life lesson that I learned from The Office is that sometimes it is not so much about the experience but more about the people that you share that experience with. Throughout many of their episodes, the characters of The Office together experienced a multitude of different situations but what made those experiences special was the fact that they spent those moments together. This is why I strive to make sure that I experience the greatest moments in life with the people that I care about the most.

Lastly, The Office taught me that nothing worth having comes easy without persistence and patients. In The Office, a character by the name of Jim was in love with another character named Pam. However, she was in a prolonged engagement with another man so Jim was forced to play the role of the “best friend.” He was forced into this role for a very long time but remained patient, persistent, and available. Finally, when the time was right and they were both available, they were able to cultivate a relationship that led to a marriage and a child.

Sex and the City on the other hand not only entertained me on my good, bad and okay days but it really helped me understand what self-love is. It’s one thing when you you hear someone tell you to love yourself but it’s another when you see someone else do it around a situation. For example, Ms. Samantha Jones is my favorite character and she is the definition of self-love. She dated this guy Richard who she loved deeply until he cheated on her. A few episodes later, he gets back with her. As she dates him for the second time, she tries her best not to bring up the past until she catches herself running up 145 sets of stairs to see if he was making the same mistake again in Atlantic City. Once she got to the hotel room out of breathe, it dawned on her that she did not want to be in a relationship where she was constantly worrying about him disrespecting her again. She told Richard, “I love you Richard, but I love me more” and breaks up with him again. It’s my favorite line in the show. Now everytime, I contemplate on making decisions that I may feel might make me unhappy I recite that line in my head and my decision is made.

Overall, to most people, shows like The Office and Sex in the City  may be consumed for entertainment, but for others, it is guide to how to live life in the most memorable, simplistic, yet spontaneous ways.