@thejesschoi
Instagram · Talking Head Edit
@thejesschoi The hardest person to love in my life is my dad. And he has no idea. If you’ve ever loved someone who couldn’t fully meet you where you are, and chose them anyway: this one’s for you. I’m 38. I have 38 things I’m still figuring out. This is episode 2. Follow and figure it out with me. Make sure to check out episode 1 #figuringitout #filmmaker #sonyfx3 #laowa10mm
Performance
Video #26136 · Talking Head Edit
[01]
The creator shares a deeply personal story about her difficult relationship with her father, a conservative Korean pastor. She chronicles her journey from a happy childhood to the conflict that arose when she came out as gay, his refusal to attend her wedding, and their eventual, subtle reconciliation, concluding with her ongoing effort to love and understand him.
[02]
[03]
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[05]
What stops the scroll in the first 3 seconds
Title hook · 25%
I'm 38
Verbal hook · 65%
I'm 38. The hardest person to love is my dad, and he has no idea.
Visual hook · 10%
A woman sits on the floor in a warmly lit, intimate room, looking directly at the camera, creating an immediate sense of personal connection.
[06]
Steal this for your own video
I’m . The hardest person to love is my , and they have no idea.
[07]
The promise the opener makes, and how the video pays it back
Hook
A highly vulnerable and specific confession that establishes a relatable, high-stakes emotional problem.
Payoff
A concluding statement of nuanced acceptance, acknowledging the ongoing difficulty but affirming the narrator's commitment to love, followed by a call-to-action that frames the story within a larger series.
[08]
The structural pattern this video runs on
Framework
The Empathetic Conflict Arc
A personal story framework that details a deep ideological or emotional conflict with a loved one, humanizes the 'antagonist' by explaining their backstory, and resolves not with the other person changing, but with the narrator's own shift in perspective and acceptance.
The Idealized Foundation
Establish the positive 'before' state of the relationship, creating a baseline of love and connection to make the subsequent conflict more poignant.
The Ideological Collision
Introduce the core point of divergence—an identity, belief, or choice—that shatters the initial harmony.
The Secret Pain
Detail a specific moment where the conflict caused direct, personal emotional pain for the narrator, making the abstract conflict concrete and visceral.
The Empathetic Reframe
Shift perspective to explain the other person's backstory or motivations, adding complexity and preventing them from being a one-dimensional antagonist.
The Ultimate Rejection
Showcase the peak moment of conflict, where the relationship is tested to its breaking point, often through a direct refusal or rejection.
The Mirror Realization
After a period of distance, the narrator has an internal epiphany, often realizing a shared trait or deeper connection with the other person, which serves as the story's turning point.
The Fragile Reconciliation
Depict the re-establishment of connection, often through a small, indirect gesture that signifies a step toward healing without fully resolving the core conflict.
The Active Choice of Love
The narrator demonstrates a new, mature approach to the relationship, taking ownership and choosing to offer love and acceptance on new terms, representing an internal resolution.
The hardest person to love in my life is my dad. And he has no idea. If you’ve ever loved someone who couldn’t fully meet you where you are, and chose them anyway: this one’s for you. I’m 38. I have 38 things I’m still figuring out. This is episode 2. Follow and figure it out with me. Make sure to check out episode 1 #figuringitout #filmmaker #sonyfx3 #laowa10mm
title · beginning
I'm 38
contextual · middle
My Grandma
contextual · middle
My Dad
title · middle
July 2023
title · end
2025.
title · end
December 2025
informational · end
2.
I'm 38. The hardest person to love is my dad, and he has no idea. Growing up, I was his girl. He'd play fight Taekwondo with me, never yelled, always smiled. I grew up in his church, Korean immigrant community, deep faith, and I believed all of it completely. Until I was tier, figured out I was gay. In my twenties, I started questioning the belief system I was raised in. And I remember one specific Sunday, standing at the back of my dad's church while he preached about homosexuality as a sin. He had no idea I was gay. He was just preaching what he believed, but I was there carrying the secret, listening to my father's own voice, and I felt tears start to form in my eyes. My dad grew up poor in Korea. His father died before he was a month good. Never knew him. My grandmother raised five kids alone on faith. God wasn't just religion for my dad. God was the father he never had. July 2023, I told him I was engaged to a woman. I invited him to our wedding. He said he couldn't come. On my wedding day, I walked myself down the aisle and the whole time I was thinking, I would have loved my dad to be here. Two years went by. Silence. But in that silence, I kept coming back to something. My dad and I, we're mirrors of each other. Stubborn, strong willed, dreamers, believers when the whole world tells us that we're wrong. August 2025, he reached out. I was surprised. Four months later, we were on a cruise together for New Year's Eve, and somewhere better the dinners and the laughing, he looked at me and said, rank you for coming to the family gathering. But coming from my dad, I knew that he meant I love you. Now I call him every week, let him talk about his faith, ask questions, listen, not to make myself small, but because what I wanted from him, I'm choosing to give to him instead. He didn't show up to my wedding, but he's still my bad, and I'm still figuring out how to love him exactly for who he is. This is figuring it out episode two. Check out episode one below.