‟All of us are standing on the border between normal and abnormal.”
Initially, I decided to watch this K-Drama because I came across a TikTok video about it, and because I found out that Park Bo-Young is the main lead in this drama. But the storyline made me stay until the end. This is actually the only K-Drama that I managed to watch until the last episode this year! My commitment is so bad I couldn't even get myself to commit to finish a K-Drama....until I came across this one.
This K-Drama tells the story of nurse Jung Da-Eun as she navigates life as a psychiatry nurse. Every patient that is warded in the psychiatric unit has their own diagnosis and backstory. This has shone light on the various types of mental illnesses and how one's life can be affected by it, both on the patient and their caregivers.
Mental health issues is like a topic that is kept in a dark room with warnings on the door to not get in, at least that's what it's like for me while I was growing up. Even today, there is still such a huge stigma on the topic of mental illnesses. "Dia ada masalah otak tu." "Orang gila tu". Words like "crazy" is often used to describe people that are deemed abnormal by society's standard, when actually there are more accurate terms that could be used to describe people with mental illnesses. The spectrum is so wide, if only more people care enough to learn them.
As I dive deeper into each episodes, I became more sympathetic towards each patients. It's true that no one wants to be sick, no one wants their loved ones to be admitted into a hospital - especially a psychiatry ward, am I right? But you can't make your own decision on that. Just like if one gets sick with a flu, you can't control your body to not get sick. How does having a sick body is normalized, but not a sick mind?
However I'm so glad I live in the era of technology where there's such things as the Internet, where people could exchange opinions, state opinions, and share opinions. Topics like mental illness should no longer be taboo anymore, but instead should be made much more aware, and dramas like this did exactly that.
In this drama too, nurse Jung finds herself dealing with her mental health as well. This only shows that no one is excluded from being mentally sick, not even a psychiatry nurse. One should learn to be more sympathetic with one's self. Treating one's self with kindness and compassion, and eating 3 meals a day should help with that (that's what this drama taught me ><).
‟Just because I get a stain on my scrubs doesn't mean they're not scrubs anymore. Just like how having been a patient on a psychiatric ward doesn't mean that I'm no longer a nurse. Stains called prejudice and stigma....even the big and small stains you didn't know you had....even the stains you didn't know were stains because they were hidden by scars....even the stains that I got from spilling water on myself... let's wash them all away and let them go. For a nice and fluffy tomorrow and wait for the spotless morning that's sure to come someday.”
Being mentally sick must have left a mark on one's self. It's not easy to be expected to function normally in society when one is struggling with one's own mind. But just like the quote above says, your mental health does not define you. And that the sun always rises tomorrow, just for you.
Other than mental health topics becoming the focus in the storyline, we also see a little bit of romance budding as the side story. I am honestly so glad with who nurse Da Eun ended up with, he is such a green flag! And I am so happy to see Yoo-Chan and Deul-Re stand up for themselves.
Overall, I really enjoyed this drama. I learned a lot, especially on feeling more compassion for those battling with mental health.
Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!
Rewatch value: YES!
This drama definitely left a mark on my soul. And I hope I will always be reminded to be more compassionate with myself and the people around me. Oh and I would also like to try to keep a "compliment diary", it's where one jot down the compliments they would give to themselves everyday, no matter how small. I want to see where this would lead me in term of my self-esteem.
Some more quotes from Daily Dose of Sunshine:
‟What we probably need right now is the courage to be disliked. And yet, our need to be loved, and our need for other's approval, make us take a knife to our very soul, to sculpt an idealized version of ourselves.”
‟You may have lost something you cherished the most, or yourself. Or perhaps you've lost your happy moments. At times like these, we have to rely on something that seems quite old-fashioned, a thing called hope. That clichéd thing. And we're all here in search of that ray of hope.”
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