Scrubs may be a comedy, but there were always the moments when the humor stopped and the cast taught us some really important life lessons. I’m only 19, so I still have a lot to learn, but Scrubs has definitely taught me more about life than I thought possible and I want to share these lessons with you.
“At the end of the day, the best thing to do for your friends is to be honest. You just have to hope that your honesty doesn’t make them realize something they didn’t want to know.” -John Dorian
This is a piece of J.D.’s advice that I’m still struggling with because I’ve never been one to be brutally honest with others if there’s a chance that my honesty might hurt them. The reality, though, is that it’s your responsibility to be honest with those who you care about because everyone needs a reality check sometimes, and you might be the only person to give them that reality check. Even if they’re angry at you for awhile, they will ultimately be grateful for your honesty.
“Everyone’s got their own burdens...And I’m not gonna be one of those people that dumps mine on somebody else.” -Dr. Kevin Casey
When you take the time to look around, you’ll realize that no one has a perfect life, no matter how hard they try to portray it as perfect. It’s important to ask for help when you need it, but you also need to be able to stand on your own two feet because it’s nobody else’s job to walk you through the hard times in your life.
“Nothing in this world that’s worth having comes easy.” -Dr. Bob Kelso
Take relationships, for example. I can’t give much input based on personal experience, but I’ve been around enough successful and failed relationships that I know that it’s never as easy as you want it to be. Some people think that if two people are meant to be together, then it will always feel right and come easy, but that’s not true. No matter how great two people fit together, there will be rough times because we’re all human and fights are inevitable. The couples who make it are those who fight for each other and don’t give up because they know that their relationship is worth it. Of course, Dr. Kelso’s advice goes for things other than relationships, like your career and the happiness that everyone is striving for. The things in life that are amazing and make life worth living are difficult to find and even harder to keep, but that’s what makes it so meaningful.
“No matter how alone you feel, how painful it may be...with the help of those around you, you’ll get through this, too.” -John Dorian
When you’re really struggling with something, no matter what it might be, it’s easy to want to stop living for your life and just isolate yourself from everyone, but this will hurt you so much more than it will help you. It can be hard to believe at times, but there are always people who care about you and will support you through the good and bad times. I’ve turned away from my support system before because I didn’t want to burden them or I thought that they wouldn’t understand or frankly, I would’ve rather been consumed by my own misery than actually let my loved ones help me. But that’s not healthy or productive and it ultimately causes you and your loved ones even more pain. There is nothing wrong with leaning on others because that’s what will get you through the day.
“Who the hell cares what anybody else thinks? Just look into your heart and do whatever the hell makes you happy.” -Dr. Bob Kelso
This piece of advice from the wise old Dr. Kelso seems obvious, but most of us let others opinions get in the way of our happiness far too often. Maybe it’s something seemingly miniscule, like not wearing a piece of clothing that you love because you’re afraid that others will laugh at you. Even something this small can affect our happiness, though, because when we’re not being authentic to ourselves, we begin to feel sad and out of place in our skin. Sometimes, being yourself and doing what makes you happy takes courage because not everyone is going to like that person, but you have to realize that if someone judges you for being yourself, then they’re not worth your time.
Scrubs will always give you your daily dose of comedy and harsh truths. At the end of the day, Scrubs taught us to embrace everything in our lives and to not take ourselves too seriously, and that’s the genius of it.
