Quote Of The Day By Kristen Bell: ‘There’s Nothing Weak About…’

“Nobody Wants This” star Kristen Bell has been speaking out about mental health for years now, offering advice and sage wisdom for those in need. 

While the actress admits that she didn’t speak up about her own struggles with anxiety and depression for the first 15 years of her career, she decided to share her history with hopes of helping those who may hear her powerful words. 

Bell attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, but left just shy of graduating in order to take a role in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” on Broadway. After starring in the Broadway revival of “The Crucible” with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, she moved to Los Angeles to further her career.

After appearing in small roles in “Deadwood,” “The Shield,” “Everwood,” and more, she landed her breakthrough role as the titular character in “Veronica Mars,” which she held for three seasons, a movie, and later, a fourth revival season. Her other TV credits include “Gossip Girl,” “Heroes,” “The Good Place,” “The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window,” and “Party Down,” among others.

“There’s nothing weak about struggling with mental illness.”

The above quote comes from Kristen Bell’s guest commentary on Time.com where she declared that she’s through staying silent about her depression. During college, Bell says she “felt plagued with a negative attitude and a sense that I was permanently in the shade. I’m normally such a bubbly, positive person, and all of a sudden I stopped feeling like myself.” 

She also wrote in the piece that staying quiet about her issues did nothing but cause them to fester.

“When you try to keep things hidden, they fester and ultimately end up revealing themselves in a far more destructive way than if you approach them with honesty,” she said. “I didn’t speak publicly about my struggles with mental health for the first 15 years of my career. But now I’m at a point where I don’t believe anything should be taboo. So here I am, talking to you about what I’ve experienced.”

Kristen Bell has been a longtime advocate for therapy, mental health awareness, marriage counseling, and more. By speaking publicly about her own struggles with anxiety and depression, she aims to remove the stigma surrounding mental health issues so that people won’t feel ashamed over something that’s outside of their control. 

If everyone felt empowered enough to take control of every aspect of his or her health, imagine what could be accomplished individually and globally? 

“In order for all of us to experience the full breadth of team human, we have to communicate. Talking about how you’re feeling is the first step to helping yourself.” — Time

“I had a pit in my stomach for almost feeling ashamed that I had hidden [my mental health struggles] for so long because it could’ve helped people before if I had talked about it.” — TODAY Show

“Laughing is so good for you. It legitimately burns calories… and just makes you happier on a daily basis.” — Health

“We have a very healthy marriage and we got there by doing therapy when we needed it, and constantly doing fierce moral inventories. We both take responsibility when we are wrong, and I think it is easy to work with him because I married him, because I enjoy spending time with him and I trust him. That is exactly what I want in someone that I work with.” — People

“You do better in the gym with a trainer; you don’t figure out how to cook without reading a recipe. Therapy is not something to be embarrassed about.” — Good Housekeeping