It is completely understandable that you tend to avoid sad dramas, especially this year that has been very difficult for many people. Dramas are there to entertain us , to make us feel things and of course to make us think. That means, that every person depending on their mood chooses the series that fits their mood better.
Personally, I avoid spoilers and I am not looking at the tags, because I don't want to know if the drama will have a tragic ending or not. The dramas I chose this year haven't changed much. I tend to choose series from different genres, and from heart-warming to tragic. Also, I have some drama 'phases'. I have the ''romance'' phase, the ''mystery-horror'' phase, the ''bl'' phase, the ''watch whatever you find'' phase.
I didn't mind when watching a drama that made me cry (and there were a lot this year). What I do though is choosing something different every time. For example after a sad historical drama, I will probably choose something happier and more heart-warming. In that way I don't feel like the sadness overwhelms me. The few episodes that kdrama and jdrama have helps a lot, since no matter how sad it is, it will not have a lot of episodes to make me feel immense sadness. Furthermore, most kdramas make me feel lots of feelings, (sadness, happiness, excitement, anger) and that is something advantageous, since the drama doesn't only emit one feeling.
What I tend to avoid in general though, are romances that are cheesy with no actual plot (or a very plain and common one). Generally, it depends on the plot. If it seems like something good I will probably watch it.