If you haven’t realized this yet, stepping into the K-pop fandom is a huge turning point in your life. Trust me, everything changes. I repeat, everything. It’s a whole new world. Think about your life before K-pop. I remember my addiction started in sixth grade. I got hooked by seventh grade and completely sucked into the world by eighth and all I can remember before joining the fandom was that life was dark, empty, and sad. Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating. Life was actually pretty good, but getting into K-pop made it even better, or perhaps worse in some aspects, but it’s worth it! Check out eight general lifestyle changes that occur once you step into the fandom.

1. Let’s start with your very own personal space, your room. Before K-Pop, my own walls were bare, blank, and just plain slabs of boring white. I started with just one poster. And then I got another one. And another one. I managed to fill up about 90% of the blank space in my room, making my mom think I was crazy and my non k-pop friends think I’m a freak. So, as you can see, your room changes a lot. There will be hot, Korean men and pretty, Korean girls everywhere. You’ll have a shelf to store all your merchandise. Albums will pile up and some people might even need bigger rooms.

2. Money wise, you’ll be broke. All the money in your piggy banks, wallets, and bank accounts will be drained out due to the need to supply your K-pop desires. Then you’ll be saving up all over again and working hard to buy more. Posters, albums, photobooks, collectibles, concert tickets -you’d want them all! Tip: Make it very obvious to your friends and family what you want for your next birthday, Christmas, etc. That way, it’ll be free!

3. There might be a huge change in your religion because you’ll start worshiping hot Korean gods, also known as your biases. Many fans start out with one single bias that they’ll be devoted to for a while. However, K-pop does not believe in monotheism, the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Fans will branch out and idols unintentionally climb up their bias lists. Thus, the word bias becomes plural, making fans confused and frustrated at how sly their fellow idols are, sneaking into their hearts and capturing it without a warning.

4. Let’s talk about language. After K-pop, a typical fan usually develops a new vocabulary. Just by watching dramas and listening to the music, fans learn bits and pieces of the Korean language. Fans usually gain interest in the language and may even want to be able to read and write it. Most commonly learned phrases may include: Oppa (Older brother/ what younger female fans call their male biases), saranghae (I love you), mianhae (sorry), etc. You also learn phrases like thank you and hello. Surprisingly, because of K-pop, I know more Korean than I know Vietnamese, which is my mother’s second language so when I told her, she rolled her eyes. Fans also start incorporating English phrases from catchy songs into their sentences. Not only do fans learn the Korean language, they learn Engrish too! (And yes, I did buy the book below because of K-pop.)

5. Social life - you’ll have none. Just kidding. I have to split this one into three parts: friends, strangers, and parents. Personally, I actually became a bit more socially awkward after joining the fandom. This is because I have a hard time communicating with non-kpoppers. I just don’t know what to say so it’s a bit harder to make friends because of this addiction for me. I found myself getting super close and becoming best friends with a group of k-poppers over these past few years. And of course, you’ll have the anti-kpop friends who you must put extra effort into convincing them how wonderful hot Korean men actually are.

As for strangers, you’ll begin to talk to more of them online. This is because there are various forums and fan sites to spazz about K-pop and you can’t help but talk to them and befriend them and love them forever! It’s a big community and you would never be lonely with K-pop. A common habit for a fans is when they see a Korean person, they’ll always stop and stare at them as if they have never seen such a thing before.

Parents-wise, you’ll need to build a very good relationship with them, especially if you are under the working and driving age. I’m not sure about you, but when I hear there’s a concert coming to my town, I’m a very good little girl who does all her chores and homework and uses the most innocent tone at the dinner table when I say, “Daaaadddyyy~” And of course, due to the good relationship you and your parents have, they will know you well and reply with “Which band is it this time?”

6. Love life - Don’t fret, you’ll have tons of relationships, except your husbands and boyfriends don’t know your existence, but it’s all good! The boys you meet after joining the K-pop fandom will most likely be ignored by you because of many possibilities. They may have called your bias lame, girly, or ugly. Or simply because K-pop made your standards sky-rocket.

7. Your daily routine definitely changes. If you were an outdoor, sports person, your routine of going to the park to practice some basketball or going for a run turns into being inside and online all day to stalk K-pop websites for the latest news and spazz in forums. If you usually watch American television, you won’t be watching those shows for a while because you’ll be into Korean dramas and variety shows. Your schedule probably would turn into this: Wake up, eat, K-pop, eat, K-pop, sleep, repeat. Your health may also deteriorate a bit due to staying up late for occasional music video releases or live award ceremony online-streamings.

8. Your dreams and goals in life may go from “I want to be a doctor!” or “I want to go to Harvard!” to “I’m going to move to Seoul and find my bias and marry him/her and we’ll have beautiful children!” or “I’m going to study in Korea and work in my bias’s company!” Either way, once you step into the fandom, the first place you want to book a flight to is Seoul, Korea, especially with videos like this:

With this all said, how has K-pop affected your life?