I absolutely love Grey’s Anatomy. Not only because it makes me feel as though I have the medical knowledge to perform heart surgery (totally not the case) but because amidst all the drama it touches on the real issues. I’m going to keep this blog spoiler free, so you’ll have to watch the show if you want to know what those real issues are. Moreover, every now and again there’s a little nugget of wisdom, usually from Meredith Grey. Narrowing it down to just my 5 favourite nuggets of wisdom has been incredibly hard… but I’ve managed it (eventually)! So, before I ramble on any longer, here’s Meredith Grey’s top 5 nuggets of wisdom, and the lessons I’ve learnt from them. 

“We’re adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?”

Season 1 Episode 5

How relatable! I can’t count all the times I’ve questioned when I became an adult, and asked if I could go back to being a child. What strikes me about Meredith asking this is that actually, everybody is just making up this whole adulting thing as they go along! It’s perfectly fine to have days when you wish you could go back to being a child- pretty much all of us do. Thank you Meredith for saying the things we’re all feeling. 

“Knowing is better than not knowing. Waking is better than sleeping. And even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying.” 

Season 1 Episode 6

We can all get ourselves into situations where fear prevents us from doing something. But, if we don’t do it, we’ll never know what could have been. I’d rather end my life by looking back and regretting the things I did do than the things that I let fear hold me back from attempting. It’s possible to come back from a mistake. You can retry after failure. But a missed opportunity is lost forever. Fear can be paralysing, but overcoming it is freeing. 

“Not everybody has to be happy all the time. That’s not mental health. That’s crap.”

Season 4 Episode 15

It’s okay to feel things. Life can suck at times and you’re allowed to feel things because of that. Emotions are okay, they’re natural. Nobody is happy all the time. It’s okay not to be okay. I’ll say it again. IT’S OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY. However, even on your lowest of days, you can look for happiness in the little things. Whether it’s a sunrise, a birdsong or the kind words of another. There can be something to smile about even when we’re not feeling our best. 

“Failure is inevitable, unavoidable. But failure should never get the last word. You have to hold on to what you want. You have to not take no for an answer, and take what’s coming to you. Never give in. Never give up. Stand up. Stand up and take it.”

Season 10 Episode 12

Failure is a part of life, there’s no avoiding it. Not a single person hasn’t failed once in their lives- and those who haven’t will do at some point. Failing in something doesn’t make you a failure. The important thing about failure this that we learn from it and try again. Know what you want to achieve, re-evaluate your strategy and try again. It doesn’t matter how many times you have to try. Just don’t quit until you’ve succeeded. 

“The key to making progress is to recognise how to take that very first step. Then you start your journey. You hope for the best and you stick with it day in, day out. Even if you’re tired, even if you want to walk away, you don’t. Because you are a pioneer. And nobody said it would be easy.”

Season 10 Episode 11

Bid tasks, big projects, big dreams… they can all seem daunting. Knowing where to start can be overwhelming. But the truth is, you just start with one small step. Then you take another. And another. Some steps are harder than others but you keep going, because that’s what progress looks like. You keep on going one step at a time and one day that task, that project, that dream will be a reality.