15 Life Lessons From Meredith Grey

We have all had days where we just can't seem to get a grip and the one thing that seems to help many of us is quotes or advice from others. Funny thing is, Meredith Grey (Grey's Anatomy) has been a great life coach for many of us. She has taught us that you only fail once you completely give up, how important it is to speak your mind, how there is still good in everyone and that you just have to look for it.

Grey's Anatomy, especially Meredith Grey has helped each and every one of us through some of our darkest times and best of times. Life is a giant lesson in itself, and as long as you can laugh in between the tears then you're going to be just fine. Still, it is nice to have a little guidance and it seems that quotes from Meredith Grey truly connect with a lot of fans.

Perhaps we all aren't as fragile as we perceive, perhaps Meredith knows more about life than we do. For those that have been Grey's Anatomy fans from the beginning, who connected most with Meredith, you may be interested in learning all the life lessons we have endured from Meredith herself. Here are 15 life lessons from Meredith Grey, take a look:

15 You only fail when you stop trying

Meredith once said, "if there's just one piece of advice I can give you, it's this--when there's something you really want, fight for it, don't give up no matter how hopeless it seems." This quote can resonate with a lot of fans because it is so true. The moment that you stop trying, stop fighting for the thing you want the most-- that is the moment that all hope is lost, that is the exact moment that you fail. You cannot succeed if you are always fearing that you will fail anyways. By giving up, by not trying, you allow yourself to lose the power to get what you want. Meredith wanting everyone to see that life isn't easy but it is how hard you try that makes a difference. You will only fail the moment you stop trying, but if you continue, no matter what challenges you face, you will succeed.

14 Face life and your fears head on

Often as humans when we stand in the face of danger we become afraid--our instincts are to run. When life gets hard, we choose to run rather than face it head on. Meredith showed us that it is okay to be afraid, in fact, it is brave to be afraid-- but you mustn't run from your fears-- you should face life and your fears head on. Truth is, "and the only way you get rid of a shadow is to turn off the lights, to stop running from the darkness and face what you fear, head on." Meredith could not have said it better, as she has made such an important point. The things we fear the most aren't as scary as we like to believe-- by facing those fears head on, we prove to ourselves and to everyone around us that we are in fact, fearless. And being fearless does not mean that you aren't ever afraid-- Meredith wanted us to learn that you can have fears but you jump anyway regardless of the challenges.

13 Speak your mind

Saying what is on your mind can be terrifying, as we fear words will end up hurting someone. But in the words of Meredith, "knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying." If you never say what is on your mind, you lose the chance of anyone ever knowing. For example, if you love someone-- don't wait until it is too late to tell them, take that risk, speak your mind. Even if things don't work out in the end, at least you take that risk, at least that person knows, and now you can look back and know that you did everything you could and that's okay. Meredith taught us to not be afraid to speak your mind, people would rather know how you feel than assume otherwise. Sometimes you have to take that leap of faith and speak up before the chance is gone.

12 Don't ever forget how to talk to one another

Sometimes we forget how to talk to one another, we get so caught up in our busy schedules, our lives so different from one another that we lose sight of so much. Meredith Grey taught us that, "communication. It's the first thing we really learn in life. Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words and really start talking the harder it becomes to know what to say or how to ask for what we really need." This is so true because we often fear that what we have to say may not be able to make someone who is going through a hard time feel better, sometimes we don't know how to ask for what we need in order to feel better. But we should learn to communicate better, as communication can solve so much more in this world. Meredith believed that with all these words we know, why not use them for good? Why not learn to communicate with each other rather than leaving things in the dark.

11 Life doesn't come with instructions

Wouldn't it be nice if life came with a manual that told us exactly what to do in every predicament, or what to say to another to persuade things to go our way? Life is challenging, but it is also beautiful. Meredith taught us that, "just when we think we've figured things out, the universe throws us a curve ball. So we have to improvise. We find happiness in unexpected places. We find our way back to the things that matter the most. The universe is funny that way, sometimes it just has a way of making sure we wind up exactly where we belong." Funny thing is, Meredith speaks the truth, we have to learn to embrace the unexpected and we often end up exactly where we are supposed to be. It is a lot like that saying "everything happens for a reason", whether or not that is true, one thing is for certain that some things do occur in order for you to be on the right path. As humans, we desperately try to avoid every swerve in the road but by embracing these little bumps we find our true direction.

10 Look for the good in everyone

It can be difficult at times to believe that everyone has good in them-- even the ones that show no mercy, the ones that undoubtedly act without a care in the world. But in every dark creature is a light and that is what Meredith Grey taught us. She made us all see that there is good in everyone-- it may be buried deep but everyone has a little in them. Meredith said, "just because people do horrible things… it doesn't always mean they're horrible people." It can be difficult to see the good in someone, once they have practically ripped out your heart. But that does not mean that all the good inside them is completely gone. Sometimes, if you believe in someone enough, if you look for the good-- perhaps you will truly learn who they are, and even then, their good qualities might shine through. Doesn't mean that you should forget all the bad things one has done, it is much like forgive and forget. Learn to look for the good in others, regardless of their actions. If it is one thing Meredith has taught us, is that people who do bad things aren't always bad, sometimes the good is there and you just have to dig a little deeper.

9 Don't apologize for how you cope

Everyone copes in a different way, some get angry, others cry out, some become quiet and others go on about their days as normal as possible-- but one thing is for sure, you should never apologize for how you feel or how you choose to cope with things. As Meredith Grey once said, "I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke." Meaning, we all go through bad times and sometimes shutting people out is an easier way to deal with pain than talking about it. We all have our own way of what we use for a coping mechanism. Grey taught us not to be ashamed or to ever apologize because how you feel and how you choose to cope may not be the one someone else would just like how someone else copes isn't always the way you would. You are human, and that is what Meredith wants us to realize-- sometimes we mend our pain in strange ways-- doesn't mean we don't care just means that we are healing in our own way.

8 Faith over fear

Fear often gets the best or worst of us-- depending on how you look at it. We constantly connect our deepest fears for why we cannot do certain things. Meredith taught us that fear can get in the way of just about anything. If we didn't fear things we would not make up excuses. We constantly avoid making decisions based off of fear. Grey said, "I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong?" This is some pretty great advice as if we stopped using our own fears as defence mechanisms maybe then we would actually get somewhere in life. Meredith taught us to have faith over fear and not to let fear completely consume us.

7 Make mistakes and learn from them

We often try desperately to avoid ever making a mistake, and sometimes we regret things because we have made mistakes. But mistakes are what helps us grow and learn-- Meredith showed us that it is perfectly okay to make mistakes, "we have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore." By making mistakes we learn what we want and don't want, we learn valuable life lessons that we may not have learned if we did not ever make those mistakes. Meredith taught us that you don't have to fear your own mistakes as they are just learning experiences-- in order to grow, we must make mistakes. She taught us not to be afraid of our own mistakes but rather accept them, grow from them, and move on. We can't spend our entire lives walking on egg shells for fear of making a mistake-- learn to let go, make mistakes, and whatever you do, don't regret anything because in that moment it was something you wanted to do.

6 Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about creating yourself

For years we try our hardest to find ourselves, thinking that the older we get we will finally get it all right. But the truth is you already have found yourself, growing up is more about creating yourself. That is what Meredith Grey taught us, "At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them." There is no point in building a wall because even with walls that high the only person you find keeping out is yourself-- like Meredith said, you are fencing yourself in. Embrace the unknown, acknowledge the fact that life is messy, it will get crazy, and sometimes you won't know how to handle it. But all you have to do is resonate back to this quote and Meredith will help you out. We all think that growing up means having everything figured out, but the cool part about growing up is the decisions you make along the way, the experiences you endure that help you grow into who you're meant to be. You don't have to figure it out all at once. Find your passion and then go from there, embrace the mess you are-- look at yourself as a blank canvas, now go create art-- create yourself!

5 When Meredith Grey mentioned that we don't have to be happy 100 percent of the time

Often we feel that we have to keep this brave face on at all times because no one wants to be upset 24/7. But Meredith showed us that it is okay to not be fine all the time, we don't always have to be happy. So many people try to be happy every single day and that isn't really healthy-- as life happens and we can't control how we feel or how we react to certain things. One thing is for certain, just because you aren't happy every single hour of the day does not mean you aren't happy. Many people are happy through waves, they wake up happy or excited about something and as the day goes on perhaps something happened that triggered you and now you aren't so happy. But then you come home, and you see your super energetic dog all excited to see you and suddenly you are happy again. Humans have emotions and all Meredith did was point out our flaws and taught us to embrace them no matter what.

4 When Meredith showed us how to fight for the love we want

When we love someone we fear that they may not feel the same but if you don't ever take that chance, take a risk and tell them how you feel-- they will go on for the rest of their life never knowing. If you love someone you should never feel afraid or feel unworthy-- because you are worthy. Meredith Grey taught us to fight for the things we love, to take every risk possible to let them know exactly how we feel. Truth is, the risk lies in never letting that person know and it is better to tell them you love them or how much you care while you still have the chance. As cliché as it may sound, you do not know what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month or in a year-- so don't wait for the perfect moment or the right chance to tell someone how you feel, tell them today! Fight for the things you want, without hesitation. Because no matter what happens, at least you tried and that's more than anyone else could say.

3 When Meredith told us that the only person we could ever save is ourselves

We get so caught up in life that we forget to take care of ourselves. Truth is, you won't always have someone there to save you-- so it is better to become your own hero than to depend on some knight and shining armor to come and save you. As little girls, we dreamed of fairy tales, of superman flying into our windows at night or rescuing us from a burning building, we think about knights coming to our rescue as we are all damsels in distress. But those are just fairy tales-- Meredith Grey taught us that we have to learn to save ourselves. We can't always be dependent on someone saving us, as often we have to be our own heroes. It doesn't mean that you can't hope that someone would come and save you, but it isn't realistic to expect someone to swing from building to building to save you.

2 Don't be too guarded

When we were younger we believed that everyone was good and that no harm could ever come to us but as we got older we often learn the true meaning of heartbreak, we learn that not everyone is trustworthy, and we learn to build walls. Meredith Grey reminded us that there are still good people in this world, that just because you have had your heartbroken doesn't mean it will be that way forever, and maybe not everyone is trustworthy but you learn who you can and cannot trust, and building walls and fencing yourself in never gets your very far. It is okay to have some walls up, some boundaries, it is okay to be a little guarded but don't become so guarded that you lose sight of what is real. Don't fence people out who care about you just as much as you care about them. The truth is, the ones who see the good in everyone, the ones who aren't so guarded, the ones that have faith-- they aren't weak, Meredith taught us that it is a strength, if anything, to let your guard down.

1 Never stop dreaming

No matter what happens in life, do not ever lose sight of your dreams. We all have goals and dreams, often we allow fear to get in the way because we fear that our dreams will end up nightmares. One thing that Meredith Grey taught us all, is that it is perfectly okay to dream-- we forget to have hope because we think hope is dangerous. But Grey taught us to never stop dreaming. No matter how difficult or out of reach your dreams appear, they aren't. We face a lot of obstacles in life but it will only make us stronger. So few even dream big anymore for fear of failing. Meredith pointed this out when she said, "if we're lucky, we realize in the face of everything, in the face of life, the true dream is being able to dream at all." And truth is, things always seem to work out in the end-- when we least expect them to.