I have to admit that in the past, I was an avid and extremely dedicated fan of the show Grey’s Anatomy. The truth is that I was late to the game. I started watching it while they were filming season 14. I became a fan during my senior year of high school and instantly was so intrigued. I watched it so often that I am embarrassed to say that I caught up much quicker than expected (haha). I started to have favorite characters. I would quote the show. I was extremely invested. I felt genuinely connected to the characters. Once I was all caught up, I became impatient for the new seasons to start. Whenever something happened to a character that I loved I was borderline devastated. During the pandemic, I would count down the days until Thursday night when the new episodes would air. I was gifted a Grey’s Anatomy sweatshirt for Christmas one year. I was invested to say the least.
However, I am almost embarrassed to say I no longer watch the show. After three and a half years of consistent dedication to this show, I began to drift away from it. I got busy with school and found myself not as able to watch it. I also found myself upset at some of the decisions the show was making with regards to characters on the show. I found myself wishing the show had ended earlier instead of continuing so long that characters were leaving because the actors wanted to pursue other jobs. For a while, I thought these were the only reasons I had slowly stopped watching a show that once meant so much to me. However, as I started to not watch it anymore, I realized another reason why not watching this show anymore might have actually been a good idea for me. Once I was not watching the show, I realized that it had actually caused me to have some health anxiety. I have to give credit to Grey’s; they cover legitimate topics even though it is a fictional show. Once I wasn’t watching it, I realized how much hearing the medical issues discussed on the show made me nervous. I know this might sound lame, but it became very real for me. I bring this up because I want to share this experience in case other people have felt this way before.
I do want to end with this; there are still parts of the show that I love. I think Ellen Pompeo is incredible and truly a badass. I also think Shonda Rhimes who created the show is so creative and phenomenal; she is a real trailblazer in the industry. There are so many members of the cast that I love and can’t wait to see what they do with their careers going forward. Overall, there are a lot of great things I am taking away from the show, however, I wanted to write this to normalize loving something like a TV show and then drifting away from it. I learned from my own experience that it is ok to love something a lot and then drift away from it. It might sound silly because I am talking about a TV show, but I have learned that this pertains to other things. I have learned that it is ok to enjoy certain things for a while and then decide to move on. I am grateful for the joy that the show brought me, but I am also glad that I knew when it was time for me to move on and try other things.