Kristen Bell reveals what advice she’d give to younger self about coping with anxiety
‘Don’t be fooled by this game of perfection that humans play’
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Your support makes all the difference.Actress Kristen Bell has spoken openly in the past about the depression she suffered as a teenager, the ongoing battles that she’s faced with her mental health and her anxiety issues.
Now The Good Place and Frozen star has revealed the advice she would have given her younger self.
In a video for the Child Mind Institute, a non profit organisation, the 37-year-old said she believed that it was important not to have your perception of the world skewed by the filtered nature of the media.
“What I would say to my younger self is don’t be fooled by this game of perfection that humans play,” she said.
“Because Instagram and magazines and TV shows, they strive for a certain aesthetic, everything looks so beautiful, and people seem like they don’t have problems, but everyone’s human.”
While some individuals may appear to be the pinnacles of pure happiness, Bell emphasised that everyone has their own problems that they may choose to keep to themselves.
She also stressed the importance of self-love on the good days and on the bad days.
“You deserve to feel just as beautiful on the days you wear no makeup, and the days you don’t shower, and the days you feel like you’re depressed,” she said.
“You have an obligation to take care of yourself from the inside out, because that’s how you can truly feel beautiful.”
However, no one should ever feel ashamed of the troubles that they’re striving to overcome, as Ms Bell explained.
“There are resources out there, if you’re feeling anxious, of people to talk to and doctors to interact with and there are tons of solutions out there for you,” she said.
“You are not alone. Never feel embarrassed or ashamed about who you are.
“Never feel embarrassed or ashamed about the uniqueness that is you, because there are people out there to help and we’re all just human, and you can do it.”
Mental health problems affect as many as one in four people in the UK, according to charity Mind.
The Mental Health Foundation states that women in England are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders than men.
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