u/Worldly-Net3102

I am 18 years old in a gap/drop year. I messed up my college entrance examination, and I'm trying again.

I thought I had ADHD, but my therapist doesn't think so. Why I thought it was ADHD:

Extreme Work Paralysis as a Freeze Response: I cannot force myself to study. It’s an agonizing internal lock. My mind wants to move forward, but my body completely freezes. This cost me my physics exam. I get called lazy, but I just can't get myself to accept it.

The Obsessive/Planning Loop: When trying to study, my heart races and my brain starts making intricate thought patterns of planning months ahead. Once done, I compulsively revise the plan endlessly. It gives me 45–60 seconds of relief before I start panicking again, and the loop continues forever.

Paralysis Outside Studying: The taking initiative thing spreads outside of studying as well. My whole life is so exhausting.

Severe Time Blindness: especially during the time periods where I'm not studying AT ALL because it's so hard to just FUCKING start, the day goes right by. Right in front of me. What feels like 3-4 hours have gone by, was actually 6. What felt like 12 hours was actually 24 hours. My life is passing me by. I have no control.

Looking back, I think I agree about not having ADHD because I lack classic traits: I don't get easily distracted unless it's a sensory noise, like paper scratching, which I must stop to continue.

I enjoy learning once I start; I don't space out in conversations, and I don't forget things.

But this planning fixation and starting paralysis are eating me alive. I'm depressed. I get anxiety attacks. I've been engaging in SH. The worst part is that just because almost every teenager is depressed (at least that's what I hear), my pain and misery aren't being taken seriously, and I don't know what to do anymore. Any advice would help. Thank you

I’ve been noticing a trend in recent K-dramas where every single actor looks completely pristine and airbrushed in every scene, regardless of whether the context actually calls for it.

They could be running for their lives in an intense, sweating action sequence under the blistering sun, yet their makeup remains flawless, their hair stays perfectly styled, and there’s not a single drop of sweat in sight. It completely breaks my immersion and takes me out of the story.

A prime example of this is Our Sticky Love: the male lead is supposed to be a hardened gangster who commits violent hits for his boss. Yet, he has a completely untouched "baby face" with no tan, no scars, and zero visible wear and tear. Given the brutal situations his character survives, you’d expect some battle damage or grit, but he honestly looks like a high schooler. He lacks the presence and rugged charisma of a boxer/gangster and instead looks dainty and fresh-faced.

Kdramas didn't always used to be like this. Older shows made sure actors actually looked the part:

• The K2 (2016): Ji Chang-wook plays a mercenary/bodyguard, and he genuinely looks like one. You see him sweating, hyperventilating, looking visibly exhausted, and rocking a realistic tan.
• Fight For My Way (2017): Even for non-action genres, both Park Seo-joon and Kim Ji-won looked like normal, everyday people working hard to make ends meet, because that’s who they were playing.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I want to fully experience the story a drama is trying to tell. And in order to do that, both the actors and their stylists have to do their job right. I really wish KDramas would go back to their old ways because things looked more realistic back then.

After watching some dramas like My Love From The Star, The K2, While you were sleeping, The Innocent Man, etc., I've realized there's this certain "air" that you can feel/experience in these dramas that is nowhere to be seen in OTT originals. I don't know how to describe it, but i think everyone can understand what I'm trying to say. It's the essence of the 2010s.

Maybe it's because of the way these K-dramas are filmed and edited, and the typical OSTs, but there's something so charming about them. It takes me back to my childhood during those times without the K-dramas even remotely resembling my childhood. I still remember when i was watching The K2 (2016) for the first time; it was like i was back in 2016. The drama FELT LIKE 2016. PLS SOMEONE TELL ME THEY KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

I desperately need to feel that air again.

No, i do not mean i want 18+ graphic scenes; I'm asking for more mature, complex stories and emotions in romantic K-dramas. I'm so tired of every series being so cringe, fluffy and cutesy (fr ex., My sticky Love). If you notice this problem does not arise in literally ANY OTHER GENRE of K-dramas. But when it comes to romance, suddenly it's a children's show. I'm talking about shows with complex story lines and a much more realistic, deep, intense kind of connection between the main leads.

Some examples are Something in the Rain and The Trunk.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I can't put it exactly into words, but I hope y'all understand what I'm talking about. It's so rare.

Most K-dramas are 16 episodes long, and I've honestly not watched a single K-drama without skipping a substantial portion of each episode because of the inclusion of scenes of supporting characters. Of course i think they matter; they definitely have a place and purpose, but not so much that they take up 1/4th of every episode. A K-drama could be so much more engaging if they cut down on extra scenes of the supporting roles. Some examples i would like to give are

1. supporting characters in See you at Work Tomorrow

2. Useless, unnecessary aunts in My Royal Nemesis

etc., etc.