Shadowing Practice: Kristen Bell on Living with Depression and Anxiety | Body Stories | SELF - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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I have to know how my brain works in order to catch it from doing bad things.
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I have to know how my brain works in order to catch it from doing bad things.
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Because the brain is really tricky and it will tell you things that aren't true.
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And so knowing that I would remember a negative experience more than I'd remember a positive,
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I would really make it my mission to go,
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okay, but the positive experiences with that person were equal.
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I'm gonna choose to let that negative experience go.
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What is your anxiety?
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It's hard to put into words,
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honestly, and it feels different at different times.
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When my anxiety is high,
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it feels like an absolute inability to make decisions.
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Like, I would rather not do something than decide what to do.
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And it's almost paralyzing, which is odd,
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because it seems like it's simple.
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Do you want to go on a walk or sit on the couch and watch TV?" And I'm like,
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I can't figure that out.
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I don't have the brain power.
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It feels like decision fatigue.
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And then depression is different.
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My version of it feels very restricted,
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like if you're trying to put on a latex glove that's way too small for your hand.
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Also, it sort of coincides with this feeling of not being excited about anything,
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which, again, on a day when you feel great or even normal,
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you can get excited about things.
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Like you're like, oh, I'm gonna have pizza today,
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or I'm gonna see a friend today,
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or any, all of the fun things about life.
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And when I'm having depression,
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it's like none of those things are exciting or seem worth it.
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So there's this real disconnect because I know,
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logically, that should be a feeling that induces some happiness,
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but it's like my depression will not let me recognize those feelings.
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At 40, I don't believe anything should be taboo anymore.
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Like I talked to my kids about sex,
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and yes, they're very young,
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but they wanted to know how they got here
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and we talked about it and they were grossed out
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and left the room and that's fine but I think
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that anything that's taboo
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and hard to talk about should be some of the first
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priorities you should be talking about with the support systems in your life.
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I wish that I had known as a person in the public eye to talk about it publicly at an earlier date.
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I had been
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acting and you know doing publicity for a while
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and I was at the stretch the last stretch of two movies of a press tour
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and I'd done all these interviews
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and I was lying in bed about to do Sam Jones
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which is a long-form interview like it's like a 45 minute to an hour sit down
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so you better be prepared to talk right
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and I said to my husband God I have nothing to
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talk about I feel exhausted like I've I've said every story about my life.
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And he said, why don't you talk about your struggle with anxiety and depression?
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And it was a huge light bulb.
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I was like, have I never, I've never done that.
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I was experiencing the same thing that everyone else was,
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which is like, well, just don't talk about that.
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And then I just felt so inauthentic and irresponsible to have been presenting this bubbly,
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happy person, which is someone that I cultivate and I nurture and I try really hard to exist as.
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And I just wasn't being honest with the people,
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like the girls who may look up to me.
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And so I was like,
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okay, I'm just gonna talk about it.
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And so I don't even think that Sam knew,
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but during that interview I was like,
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actually, you know, for a period of my life,
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and periods, and often, and sometimes just on a random Wednesday,
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I feel this way.
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And then we started to get more in depth and I found myself really happy to be admitting all of it.
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And the response I got from that interview was astounding to me.
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So many people saying, I've felt that way too.
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Thank you for saying it out loud.
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You gave me the courage to say it out loud,
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which I mean, I did practically nothing other than do what I should do,
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which is be honest and authentic.
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And it really, it was a huge turning point in my life.
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I just felt a huge sense of responsibility.
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And so I kept talking about it and I talk about it a lot.
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And here we are.
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And here we are.
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I started noticing a feeling of being disconnected when I was probably 18 or 19.
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I moved out of Detroit and to New York when I was,
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I just turned 18.
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I was like two weeks into being 18.
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And I was so excited,
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it was all I wanted to do.
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I was going to NYU,
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I was studying musical theater,
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I was living in this beautiful melting pot cultural city and seeing Broadway shows each night.
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And it was wonderful.
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And I just felt like if I wrote my life down on paper,
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I had so many opportunities,
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so much privilege, so much access to happiness,
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and yet my feelings were not that.
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As an 18 year old living on her own in New York City,
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I should be like, yes.
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Like it should be so exciting, but it wasn't.
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I felt like I was sort of followed by this weird dark cloud
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that just didn't allow me to see all the happiness around me.
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And I was lucky that I felt in my bones that that wasn't how I,
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I hate to use the word should,
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but should be feeling or how I could be feeling, I guess.
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And I was lucky enough that my mom had sat me down and had a conversation with me and she said,
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hey, just a quick heads up.
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I experienced these feelings sometimes.
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Your grandmother experienced these feelings sometimes.
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She's a nurse.
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And so she recognized that there could be a hereditary component to a serotonin imbalance.
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And she said, if you start to feel any of these things,
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just know there are a variety of ways
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that you can reach out to people or try to fix it and you don't sort of have to live like that.
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It's such a hard thing to talk about like I don't like
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that there's any sort of stigma to it but I get it.
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It's a weird thing to talk about because it's not an affliction that you can see.
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It's like a hard thing to I guess diagnose and also acknowledge
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and a lot of families or support systems or anyone in your life,
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they don't know how to talk about it,
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especially if they aren't themselves feeling it.
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I think I had an upper hand
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because my mom had explained it to me in a very medical way early on and I was like, oh, okay.
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It sort of armed me with the information about what could happen and maybe it never will,
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but if it did, there's access to help.
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I knew that there were all of these ways like talking to a friend,
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finding a therapist, talking to a psychiatrist or a psychologist,
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and just knowing that changed everything for me.
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Even if you're not experiencing any mental health issues,
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I would hope that you would walk through life being open and ready to be a shoulder if someone needs you.
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Because the reality is we're not all born the same.
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Some of us are born with a ton of confidence and then some are born really timid.
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And I just feel like,
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maybe this is just my maternal instincts talking,
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but I just don't want anyone to feel like they don't have a support system.
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So if we collectively as a society,
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like self-care, this whole idea,
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should also include caring about each other.
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You know, it has to obviously be on the person to identify the feeling and say I need help.
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But then I think it has to be on the people around them that love them to say,
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okay, let me see if I can support you,
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you know, even if that's just checking in once in a while.
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Context & Background
The dialogue presented in the video features Kristen Bell discussing her experiences with anxiety and depression. She emphasizes the importance of understanding one's mental health and recognizing the impact of negative experiences compared to positive ones. Throughout her narrative, Kristen illustrates the challenges of decision-making during moments of anxiety and the numbing effect of depression on joy. Her willingness to talk about difficult topics openly serves as an invitation for others to engage in meaningful conversations about mental health, breaking down taboos that often surround these discussions.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "It's hard to put into words, honestly." - A phrase useful for expressing struggles in articulating thoughts.
- "I can't figure that out." - Useful for communicating confusion or difficulty in making decisions.
- "It feels like decision fatigue." - A description that conveys mental exhaustion related to making choices.
- "It feels very restricted." - A phrase indicating a feeling of limitation, applicable in various contexts.
- "I wish I had known." - A reflective expression that can be used to share insights or lessons learned.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To enhance your english speaking practice through shadowing Kristen Bell’s narrative, follow this practical guide:
- Select Key Sections: Choose segments from the transcript that resonate with you. Focus on phrases related to emotions, as they are powerful in daily communication.
- Listen Actively: Play the selected audio clip, paying close attention to Kristen's intonation and rhythm. Repeat each phrase aloud, mimicking her delivery to improve english pronunciation.
- Break It Down: Divide longer sentences into smaller parts. Repeat each segment separately before piecing them back together to build fluency in your speech.
- Record Yourself: Use a recording device to capture your attempts. Listen back to identify areas where you can apply the shadowing technique more effectively.
- Practice Regularly: Integrate this shadow speak practice into your daily routine. Consistency is key to improving your speaking skills and adapting to different emotional contexts.
By engaging with the content and utilizing the shadowspeak approach, you not only work on your pronunciation but also enhance your ability to communicate complex thoughts and emotions, leading to more meaningful conversations.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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