So Long, Ole’ Smokey

The University of Tennessee’s live mascot, Smokey XI, recently retired due to his reserved temperament that made him uncomfortable in public settings. It was reported that he had trained for two years in order to deal with the rambunctious demands of an SEC football program that ranged from attending packed games to making appearances and interacting with fans. While the story is a funny one on the surface, it really serves as a deeper reminder that unfortunately, you can’t force yourself to fit into a square that wasn’t designed for you.

Our natural personalities guide us in a lot of aspects in life. It helps us to make new friends, be wary of dangerous situations, and keeps us grounded in a strong sense of self. However, certain life circumstances can take us out of our normalcy and throw us into a deep pool of uncertainty and change. 

Work has a way of forcing us to play this stupid game of molding ourselves to fit others’ expectations. If you’re not naturally a friendly, outgoing, energetic, or talkative person, you’re usually blackballed in corporate settings. Time and time again people who are more reserved and qualified get jumped by louder and often less qualified people for promotions. 

The system was designed to reward those people who can play the game. Those who live and breathe corporate speak. Those who don’t mind working outside of normal work hours for the benefit of the company. Those who forfeit their personal lives just to make more money or have a fancier title. 

None of those things truly matter. As we see with Smokey XI, you can pretend to be something that you’re not for only so long until things hit the fan. Everyday, corporations ask people to do a song and dance to put profits, executive pay, and politics above common human decency. Even things as simple as commuting drains the life out of you slowly if you don’t have an outlet or stress reliever. 

Having hobbies that you can enjoy and actually look forward to outside of work, is one of the simplest, yet hardest ways to combat the woes of working. You can’t waste your life away while playing in Excel spreadsheets, circling back on agendas, and having countless unnecessary meetings that could’ve been emails. 

This blog and my business serve as my creative outlets. My husband enjoys working out to keep his stress in check. We both pour into our fur babies to right size our perspectives and make sure that we’re not cheating our family from getting our best selves despite the demands of work.

Honestly, your boss won’t tell you this, but it’s okay to not have the personality to play the game. Everyone has a certain role that comes natural to them and that’s really what keeps life interesting. You don’t have clones walking around thinking and doing the same exact things. There is variety that sets us all apart.

Some people love networking and connecting with strangers while others prefer working in solitude and concentrating on tasks. For me personally, I would hate to have a sales job because it’s so far outside of my normal inclinations. I’m not naturally going to brag about myself and I feel like asking people to buy something is a little scummy. I probably wouldn’t excel in a position like that, but there are plenty of people who do.

Oftentimes, jobs will try to hold things against you that you’re not in control of. Office happy hours aren’t enjoyable for everyone, but people tend to look down on the ones who opt out. People get bullied everyday just to be someone they’re not. It’s okay to just go to work, do your tasks, and go home without the extra shenanigans.

Acknowledging our differences and creating safe spaces for the most outgoing AND most reserved to thrive is important. Organizations only succeed if multiple people work together towards common goals. If you don’t want to sell your soul to corporate, then you have to figure out an exit plan from the matrix. Sometimes that means starting your own business and other times it means doing the bare minimum without going above and beyond to protect your mental health. 

While I have two dogs from the same litter, they both have completely different personalities and it’s asinine to assume that they would react to situations identically. Sasha is a lot more social. She’s always concerned with where her pack is and she’s always down to play. She’s in your face and is a sweetheart that definitely doesn’t like being alone by any means. 

Nala on the other hand is much more reserved than her sister. She gets excited too, but she calms down a lot quicker. Even while we’re chilling at home, she likes to sit against the wall and observe her surroundings instead of being right in the mix of everything like Sasha. If she gets spooked, Nala will literally creep off from us to go and sit in a dark closet or our upstairs bathroom where she feels the most safe. 

I bet Smokey XI had a personality like Nala’s and he couldn’t handle all of that commotion during game days. Honestly, it wasn’t his fault that mascotting wasn’t his jam. He didn’t ask for the job when he was simply born into his lineage. 

I think it’s important that his handlers recognized that he was uncomfortable and pulled the plug on forcing him to engage when he clearly didn’t want to. He’ll get to live the rest of his life as just a family dog. The Hudson family will continue to be his owners and he’ll be around his brother and his dad Smokey X. 

Being someone that you’re not shouldn’t be an everyday thing. That mental drain of putting on a show for people who wouldn’t care about you if you weren’t doing a job, catches up to you sooner rather than later. Prioritize your family, protect your mental health, and retain your personal integrity as you maneuver throughout life. Work will always be there, but opportunities to create lasting, meaningful memories are fleeting.

If you enjoyed this episode, let me know by giving this video a thumbs up, leaving a comment, and subscribing to my channel. I’ll see you in the next episode! 

Signed, 

Jessica Marie