Spill the Beans: Huzzah for beanie group therapy

by HeadsNo2

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Tessah mastered the secret to productive drama watching: use dramas as a reward for after you’ve finished real-life stuff.

I have been a K-drama fan since 2012, which happened to be my first year in college. Well, it started with Boys Over Flowers, and I have watched close to two hundred dramas since then. If I wasn’t taking a nap (I love naps!) I would probably be watching a Korean drama and sleeping only in the wee hours.

One time, I was sharing a room with my sister who wanted the lights off when she was sleeping, so I had to improvise. I used to bring my laptop under the covers, and added extra blankets on top to shield the light from the laptop. With earphones on, I watched my dramas that way despite the heat under the many blankets. I remember I was watching Stars Falling From the Sky that time. I didn’t do my grades justice, especially in the second year. Come third year, I was determined to get a good degree, so I didn’t cut on my watching (I think it got worse), but I would do my assignments and watch K-dramas only after I was done.

My friends actually thought I did nothing but watch dramas when I was not in class. If I was on my phone, all I did was look up K-dramas. I got most of my drama recommendations from Dramabeans, and I haven’t regretted it. I’m awaiting graduation with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with a Distinction, the second distinction in the college since the program was introduced in 1998. So being a K-drama addict shouldn’t mean bad grades, why not have the best of both worlds!

 
It’s always amazing for us to hear how Dramabeans and dramas have helped people. Onella shares a touching tale:

Hi fellow Beanies! Here goes my story about how a drama addict was born!

One fine day, my sister came and gave me a pen drive. Inside was a foreign drama which was given by her friend. Apparently, she had no interest in watching it. So, I just checked out the first episode and was thoroughly charmed by the funny characters. Trust me, here in Sri Lanka, you have nothing worth watching! So I finished the whole drama in ONE day! I was so hooked on the drama. Then I watched Playful Kiss, followed by You’re Beautiful, and To The Beautiful You, and the list goes on… So now I’m proud to say that I’ve watched more than fifty dramas!

The credit should go to Dramabeans, of course, for giving me the opportunity to read recaps, since my mom strongly opposes watching dramas during test times! There have been times where I would be reading recaps when I have a test the next day. Yet, I’ve always managed to remain between the first and second in my class. (I’m not bragging right now, it’s just that people need to know that Korean drama addicts aren’t just people who don’t have better things to do, because that’s the kind of impression they have here.)

I don’t know if this is too long, but I need to encourage all the people out there who are afraid to fall in love. My father cheated on my mom when I was barely four or five years old. Thus, unsurprisingly, I thought of all guys as cheaters. But that thought of mine changed when I started developing feelings for my best guy friend. By that time, he was directly dropping hints that he liked me, and I cleared all my negative thoughts about love only to realize that he had asked out my friend! My whole world collapsed. I don’t know how I got home that day. I know that I shouldn’t be dwelling on it so much because it was just this teenage crush, but it hit me hard. And I still can’t seem to open up to a guy who asks me out because I always think, “What’s the point of getting hurt? He’s going to leave you in the end anyway…”

But I’m gradually recovering thanks to Korean dramas, and I’m trying to overcome my phobia. So now the first thing I do in the morning is to check Dramabeans for any updates. Dramas give me the healing I want. Sometimes I’m just amazed at how much I can actually laugh! Thank you javabeans, girlfriday and all the other recappers! I read every single recap, news, review, etc. You guys have no idea how you have contributed in making me the person I am today! I love you all, and even the commenters! You guys give me the insight I should have. Thank you fellow beanies for posting wise comments. This might actually sound funny, but I really am thankful to you all. It’s only thanks to my this big family that I’m this tough and confident at the age of eighteen.

 
A fellow BEAST fan! “Fiction” is definitely my favorite. baboandthebeast shares a great story about how Dramabeans influenced her life:

Hi, DB family!

I’ve been wanting to send my K-drama addiction story since ages ago. Right now, in my circle of friends, four (including me) out of seven are soooo into K-dramas. What sets me apart from my three friends is that I was a K-popper first before I got hooked into dramas. It was 2011 when I fell in love with an idol group, and that is BEAST, which kinda explains my username. Even now, I’m still a super fangirl.

Soon, I realized it was so damn hard to be an overseas fan and oppa-lover. I was not penniless, but I just can’t manage to save enough money to go to their concerts, so the only thing that consoled me was watching their variety shows and every single video I could find on the net. I just couldn’t have enough of their dorky lovable faces. Then, one day, I found out on the net that Kikwang Oppa had a four-episode drama about him called 20 Years Old. So of course I watched it. Then, I learned about Iris 2. Doojoon Oppa got me into it. But when I watched Kikwang Oppa’s drama special My Friend is Still Alive, I cried harder than when my ex broke up with me. So, I thought K-dramas were fine and maybe I’d want to watch more. Then, Doojoon Oppa’s Let’s Eat came along, and that was the beginning of my hunger for dramas.

I didn’t know what to watch, so as I looked for recommended K-dramas on the net, I happened to open Dramabeans. And I guess that was fate. Haha. I started reading recaps (which I totally love) first before deciding whether I should watch a drama. One by one, I picked up dramas. Little by little, I started to analyze the writing and characters more. The analytical recaps were infectious I guess, hahaha. And as time went along, I realized I watched so many dramas, even if my BEAST Oppas were not in them. K-dramas just felt so refreshing. Well, sure, there were some that were meh, but most dramas were actually really wonderful, like Healer, Misaeng, Gaksital, Nine, Answer Me 1988, Splish Splash Love(!), and many others. The addiction is just irresistible. And as I watched more beautifully written dramas and profound comments from DB recappers, I became interested in writing, which is great, since I didn’t want to do anything with my life back then. So yeah, I’m in my senior year in Creative Writing now. I never imagined I would be in this major, but I have no regrets. This semester, I’m working on my thesis. Guess what my topic is? Correct! K-dramas!! I even chose to work on my thesis alone instead of working with groupmates, because I don’t know if any of my classmates will relate with me. But of course, this thesis is on a serious and academic level. I’ll have to be careful not to let my fangirling show. Haha. Wish me luck!

It’s just funny to look back at my K-drama addiction history. It’s funny how Doojoon and Kikwang Oppa actually brought me to dramas, which led me to Dramabeans, which led me to a whole new lifestyle, which led me to my love for writing. Hehe. Although I’m a bit sorry to my Oppas because I get swept away so easily by drama actors. (*cough* Ji Chang-wook *cough*) Well, I still deeply love them and I hope to see them in more dramas in the future. Pretty please!

 
We’re so glad you’re on the road to recovery, Lizzie! And we’re happy that Dramabeans has become its own form of group therapy for many Beanies.

I was listening to a friend’s conversation and someone asked, “What makes you happy right now? Find that and take hold of it.” Felt like it slapped me in the face. Lol. Someone might think the answer would be K-dramas. No offense to those who do find happiness there, but I was searching for a deeper, more fulfilling happiness for myself, and stumbled onto my family and my eight nieces and nephews. Being in their lives makes me happy. Crazy how powerful that realization was and still continues to be… even though it seems so simple.

And because I consider the people in this community as friends, I’ve had another breakthrough in therapy! This one was a hard one, but I realized that what I was saying I wanted and what I was actually doing was not matching up. No matter how hard I tried to believe I was following what I wanted… Anyway, the epiphany was that I do not want to finish school. Even though it goes against my oh-so-logical side, it’s not what I want right now. My whole journey through depression has been about following whereever I felt was right for me: finding myself, listening to myself, trusting, snf believing in myself. School just doesn’t fit in my life right now, just like church didn’t fit with me almost two years ago. I have come far in learning to be my own person. Yes, I don’t know what the future holds, but I was never going to be sure of the future anyway. That fear will not hold me back, neither will fear of disappointing my parents, because I know they will be there for me even if they don’t agree with me. I’m really thankful for them. I’m also grateful I got over the fear of medication, and it’s helped a lot so far. I also think everything I was/am going through is why that realization of what makes me happy right now was so meaningful.

Anyway, I just felt like sharing this with the first online community I ever joined when I was in my darkest moments of depression. My coping mechanism was binge watching dramas, reading recaps, watching shows live, watching shows unsubbed… It was crazy how many episodes I could plough through without sleeping or eating. No, it was not healthy, and I am better about it now, but it started this crazy K-drama addiction. I wouldn’t give up this obsession for the world. (*being overtly dramatic*) So thank you, Dramabeans and Beanies. You guys have been with me through the last two to three years (even though you didn’t know it), and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

P.S. It was Boys Over Flowers that ruined me, but my first introduction was Chuno.

 
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