Talking About Anxiety in Slow English (nobody is looking at you!) | English Every Day 🇺🇸 (A2-B2) — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hi friends. Welcome back to English
2. 0:02every day. A podcast where I speak in
3. 0:05slow, easy, and understandable English
4. 0:09so that you can learn every day. Because
5. 0:13if you want to learn English, you have
6. 0:15to keep going. Don't stop. Today we are
7. 0:19talking about fear and anxiety.
8. 0:24But what is anxiety? Anxiety is worrying
9. 0:28about everyday things like work, money,
10. 0:32our health, our looks, or our character,
11. 0:36who we are. And we all face issues with
12. 0:41anxiety, meaning that we're all anxious
13. 0:44from time to time. But today I want to
14. 0:47tell you a story, a real story that will
15. 0:51prove to you, that will show you that we
16. 0:54should not be anxious, that we have
17. 0:57nothing to worry about. But first, tell
18. 1:01me, are you an anxious person? Do you
19. 1:05have problems with anxiety? Tell me in
20. 1:08the comments below. And if you do have
21. 1:11issues with anxiety, I hope that this
22. 1:14story will help you manage it better. So
23. 1:18in the '90s, meaning 1995, 1996, or
24. 1:23something, there was a study done at
25. 1:27Cornell University. It's a university
26. 1:30called Cornell.
27. 1:32And they did a study there. They did an
28. 1:34experiment there. And they took college
29. 1:37students
30. 1:38and they had them walk into a room
31. 1:42wearing a silly shirt, a shirt
32. 1:45of a singer who was
33. 1:48not cool,
34. 1:50who people didn't really like. So
35. 1:53Cornell University had the students wear
36. 1:57this not cool shirt
37. 2:00and walk into a room.
38. 2:02And when they walked out of the room,
39. 2:05the scientists,
40. 2:06meaning the people doing the experiment,
41. 2:10asked the college students,
42. 2:12"How many people
43. 2:14do you think saw your shirt?
44. 2:17What percent of students saw your
45. 2:20shirt?" And the average answer,
46. 2:23meaning most of the students thought
47. 2:27that half of the classroom, 50%, saw
48. 2:31>> [snorts]
49. 2:31>> their shirt. Some people thought 60 or
50. 2:3570% of the classroom saw their shirt.
51. 2:39But when the scientists asked the other
52. 2:42students, the students in the classroom,
53. 2:45one by one,
54. 2:47"Did you see this person's shirt?"
55. 2:51It turns out that only 25%
56. 2:55of students saw the shirt. 1/4. That
57. 3:00means one in every four college students
58. 3:03in that room saw the shirt. And this is
59. 3:07something called the spotlight effect. A
60. 3:10spotlight is something that shines on
61. 3:12us. It is often used during movies or TV
62. 3:16shows or in Hollywood because the light
63. 3:20shines on the stars or the actors, the
64. 3:23superstars. And we think the same about
65. 3:27ourselves. We think that the spotlight
66. 3:30is on us,
67. 3:32which means we think that other people
68. 3:34are looking at us and critiquing our
69. 3:38every action. That means looking at our
70. 3:42every action and judging it. So if we
71. 3:45wear a silly shirt or we're tired,
72. 3:49we think that everybody is judging us.
73. 3:52But, it turns out that not only is
74. 3:55nobody judging us, but also very few
75. 3:58people even notice. Very few people even
76. 4:02see our silly shirt
77. 4:04or think we're tired. That means when we
78. 4:07go out in public and we think that other
79. 4:10people are judging us or thinking about
80. 4:13us,
81. 4:14it turns out the other people are
82. 4:17thinking the same things about
83. 4:20themselves. They're thinking that we are
84. 4:22judging them when we think that they are
85. 4:26judging us.
86. 4:28And it turns out almost nobody is
87. 4:31judging anybody, which means you should
88. 4:35not be anxious.
89. 4:37You don't need to be anxious because
90. 4:40it's all in your head. So again, tell me
91. 4:44in the comments, do you have a problem
92. 4:47with anxiety? Are you an anxious person?
93. 4:50And if so, I hope that this story helped
94. 4:53you understand the spotlight effect
95. 4:57and helps you with your anxiety.
96. 5:00Remember, if you want to make friends
97. 5:02who are learning English,
98. 5:04join our community. You also have access
99. 5:07to all of the transcripts or text from
100. 5:10all of my videos. I will see you
101. 5:13tomorrow. Peace.