Five women share how the most cathartic show on TV changed their lives.

Every once in a while a TV show comes along with enough power and heart to infiltrate your everyday life and make you see the world differently.

This Is Us, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning drama that beautifully weaves together themes of love, loss, parenthood and grief, is one such show.

The series follows the lives of siblings Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K Brown)  and their parents Jack (Milo Ventimiglia)  and Rebecca Pearson (Mandy Moore) . The storyline takes place in the present day and in the past via a series of flashbacks.

It’s a story device that allows viewers to witness every pivotal moments in this families’ life. And now that it’s on DVD, we can go through all the feels with them again – or for the first time.

Through the tears and laughs that watching This Is Us always brings, five women share how a show this cathartic series has changed their lives (including myself).

Laura Brodnik

Watching This Is Us has made me value my family more.

Not that it has changed the way I love them, it’s more about valuing the time I have with them and the way we communicate with each other even in the smallest, most everyday ways.

Watching the Pearson family go through the extreme highs and lows of life, in a story that crosses two different generations, has shown me that there are many different ways for families to be there for one another.

The characters on This Is Us have been faced with death, illness and estrangement from each other and yet they  always come back to one another in the end. That is the element of this show that has really driven home the importance of family to me.

Sara Cecil

As someone who is adopted I really relate to the adoption storyline in This Is Us. The idea of knowing you were adopted your whole life and the teasing and the disconnect you can sometimes feel around that was explored really well in the show.

Another idea that was explored in the show that I really related to was the idea that you sometimes resent your siblings who are the biological children in the family.

My biological family also have addictive tendencies, so Kevin’s recent addiction problem in the series, along with seeing how something like that can be genetic, also resonated with me. As an overweight woman I also love watching Kate and her journey to self-acceptance.

Watching these characters has changed my life.

Nicolle Stuart

I can’t remember another show that has explored a genuine relationship between people who aren’t all skinny and attractive. This is why I have loved watching Kate and Toby’s love story, as it’s refreshing, honest and real. It has changed the way I see relationships represented on TV.

It’s hard to choose a favorite character because they are all so authentic, but one storyline that really broke me
was the one surrounding William. It really demonstrated to me that it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Keryn Donnelly

I love This Is Us for its powerful storytelling and its ability to draw us into a world that both comforts us and pulls at our heartstrings at the same time.

The show centres around four main characters who are all turning 36 in the first season. That might not seem like a significant number, but as someone approaching their mid-thirties, I can tell you 36 seems like a deadline.

It's an age when you need to have your s--t together, or so I used to think.

But watching This Is Us' characters and storylines proves that there is no age limit where things become simple in life or you can no longer pursue your dreams.

Alexandra Marron

I’ve always loved family dramas and shows that use flashbacks to tell a story, so I knew I’d like This Is Us immediately. Plus I love seeing Mandy Moore in an adult role like this.

For me, This is Us is all about Jack and Rebecca’s story. Their love and evolution as parents is the cornerstone for all storylines and I love how the show uses flashbacks to show this.

I also love the traditions they started with their kids that they still carry out in their 30s and that they had their tough times but stood by each other despite the challenges.

I think I see things differently now that I am a parent. This Is Us reminds me of the importance of laying positive foundations and traditions for our children now that will (hopefully) carry through their adulthood and with their children.

It's a rare TV show that can unite a group of women in this way.

Women who hail from different backgrounds, who are at different stages of their lives and who are looking for comfort, entertainment and hope in such different places. Yet they have all found their way here, to this TV show.

This Is Us has managed to leave a lasting impression on each of these women's lives, and that is not a victory that is easily won.

In order to experience the magic of This Is Us for yourself, know that this is one TV show you must watch immediately, a show you'll want to relive over and over again.

This Is Us Season two is new to DVD and available now. 

This content was brought to you with thanks from our brand partner, 20th Century Fox.

This Is Us Season 2 new to DVD, available now.