On January 14, a video titled “Park Shin Hye’s New Year Worry Counseling for Overworked Office Workers” was uploaded to the YouTube channel “YouTube Ha Ji-young.” In the video, Park Shin Hye appeared as a guest offering heartfelt advice to people struggling with work-related anxiety.

During the conversation, a concern from a first-year office worker was shared, describing how thoughts about work continued even after clocking out, making it difficult to sleep. Host Ha Ji-young empathized, recalling her own early career days when she would wake up abruptly due to stress. Park Shin Hye agreed, saying, “I used to dream about being on set all the time too.”

When Ha Ji-young mentioned Park Shin Hye’s early praise as Choi Ji-woo’s younger counterpart in Stairway to Heaven, the actress explained that being a child actor felt different. She then recalled her first true leading role in the 2006 drama Tree of Heaven, where she starred alongside Lee Wan. “Until then, I had only played younger versions. That was the first time I acted under my own name, as ‘actress Park Shin Hye,’” she said.

She went on to describe how the pressure of carrying a project for the first time weighed heavily on her. “I was sometimes scolded on set, and the responsibility felt overwhelming. Once, I fell asleep briefly while moving between shoots, but even in my dream, I was still filming. I remember waking up suddenly and acting in my sleep,” she shared. At the time, she was transitioning from her first to second year of high school, around 17 to 18 years old.

Park Shin Hye added that making mistakes is inevitable regardless of passion or effort. “Everyone makes mistakes, especially early in their careers. What matters is accepting them and fixing them quickly. If you don’t know what to do, I think the best solution is to ask right away,” she advised.

Addressing another concern about losing confidence after being laid off, Park Shin Hye encouraged perseverance and self-care. “Don’t let go of self-development. Go outside, keep exercising, and stay healthy. You need that strength to seize new opportunities,” she said. She also shared her own experience of voluntarily taking a break in her early 20s to attend school, despite fears about work drying up. “I was scared, especially when I didn’t even have an agency at the time. But because I focused on what I chose to do, good opportunities eventually came back to me,” she recalled.

Meanwhile, Park Shin Hye is set to return to television with the tvN drama Undercover Miss Hong, which premieres on January 17, marking another chapter in her long and steadily evolving career.

Sources: Daum