Pratica di Shadowing: this is why you can't enjoy anything anymore. - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

Get ready with me to run, don't walk to the pack with me for my trip to Greece in five minutes

or less in the best neighborhood in Los Angeles with my matcha cold foam, banana flavored air one, Hailey Bieber smoothie with peptides.

Hello team.

As my subscribers may know, I usually post about books, but sometimes I like doing little rant videos such as this.

Today I wanted to talk about a subject that has been

so heavy on my mind for such a long period of time.

specifically because I find that with social media and just being in your 20s these days,

all of our nervous systems are firing on all cylinders.

And I have been this year really trying to unlearn the hustle optimization mindset.

You know the feeling when you go to the gym

and then you realize that you're not wearing your Apple Watch or your Garmin or Fitbit, whatever.

And there is a sense of real life panic and anxiety

that your workout will not count because of the fact you forgot your watch at home.

Or your phone.

Or whatever is tracking your movements and your steps and your calories and whatever.

And you can also bring this into reading.

The Goodreads reading challenge.

You can't enjoy a book without constantly thinking, what percentage am I at?

When am I going to finish it?

There seems to be this common feeling as of late

that we have kind of lost the ability to enjoy our hobbies anymore because they've turned into measurements.

Measurements used to demonstrate how smart we are, driven we are, successful we are,

rich we are, fit we are.

And so today I wanted to do a bit of a deep dive on this culture,

this optimization culture, which now lends itself mostly to the term maxing.

Optimization is the process of making a system, design, or procedure as effective, functional, or perfect as possible.

And the first three examples it gives are business optimization, technology optimization, mathematic optimization.

In the beginning of these technological advancements such as Apple watches and calorie trackers and stuff like that,

it wasn't entirely wrong in the beginning.

It finally gave everyday people like us access to health data

that you used to have to go to your doctor to acquire.

So it made health data far more accessible for everyone.

And if you were someone that struggled with an autoimmune disease or weight, whether that be weight gain or weight loss, it helped you keep track of these things

and potentially get you on a better path sooner rather than having to constantly go back and forth from the doctor.

But somewhere along the way, it became not about health or happiness, but more about the numbers and the statistics.

It really just stopped being about how you feel

and more about your Strava pace and time and your sleep hours

and your calorie count and your calorie in and out and how many grams of protein you've had every day.

Every single thing in life became endrenched in numbers and metrics.

And I think the real irony in this comes from the fact

that our obsession with numbers and measurements

and stats has taken away the things in life that truly make you feel grounded and grateful and like a human being.

Human connection, friendships, experiences out in the world or in your town or city, whatever it is.

And ironically, these are the things that can't be sold in supplements or can't be attained by doing a certain diet.

And I do really think that

that fact alone has really contributed to the amount of young people who are on antidepressants

and anti-anxieties because we live in an age that is so ironically antisocial.

A few weeks ago, I read a article on Substack that's called, We're All Maxing Now.

And if you've been on social media for a long time, or even just recently, then it's very probable that you've run into looks maxing,

money maxing, fitness maxing.

This term blank maxing is actually something

that we've seen on the internet since the age of the influencer actually began

but we've only now just come up with this buzzword for it.

A morning in my life as a clean girl.

I wake up at 5 a.m.

I drink hot lemon tea as soon as I wake up.

I take my ice mask out of the freezer.

I put it under my eyes.

I get my ice rollers.

I sculpt my cheekbones with my gua sha.

I go to Pilates.

This fascination with days in my life

and what I eat in a day have made us believe

that we need to be treating our bodies like excel spreadsheets

and what kind of equations should we use to optimize our specific body

and how can we organize our body

and our time in the best way possible so

that we can become the most successful the most fit

and the most happy as fast as possible

and i think this is also fascinating

because i think our society has a real problem with thinking

that happiness is something that is the light at the end of the tunnel

and once you get there it will be happy for the rest of time

and i think that that's a real problem because telling each other

that you can achieve happiness it's misleading because you can never achieve happiness that will last forever.

That's just simply not how life works, unfortunately.

The term maxing was popularized online on a beautiful thriving metropolis on the internet called Reddit.

It was actually popularized by a bunch of incels on Reddit

actually where looks maxing meant how to increase your sexual value as a man.

So why did we start doing this?

When did we start the bottomless pit of self-optimization and why?

In my opinion, with the rise of social media over this last decade, two decades now I suppose,

we especially as younger people are so used to seeing lives

that are so extravagant and so luxurious and

so much better than our own that we begin to feel inadequate

and i think a lot of the anger

and insecurity of people on the internet is due to this feeling of inadequacy

and when people feel inadequate what do they look for they look for ways to make themselves more valuable

if that even is possible we've all heard of the like i'm a high value man i'm a high value woman.

Like, just bullshit like that.

And I think you can actually trace most internet trends back to the idea of optimization.

For example, my gym routine, my back routine.

You know what?

I need to put on my glasses for this.

Optimize my vision.

As I was saying, anything framing your daily life as a human being as something to be strategized or maximized,

that's usually a dead giveaway that you've fallen into the trap of optimization.

Let's think of some examples.

Time blocking, habit stacking.

100

We've all read atomic habits, okay?

101

Keto diet, analog technique, journaling, manifestation journals, sleep, steps, screen time, every single thing.

102

I personally do believe that this is also just a very large part of North American culture.

103

I have been born and raised in Toronto

104

and I still live in Toronto

105

and the hustle culture grind mindset like just put your head down

106

and work and don't complain and get it done and make millions before you're 30 and retire at 40.

107

The corporate lifestyle and dream is so deeply entrenched into our culture now

108

that it's almost Just as if we have begun to see ourselves as a corporation.

109

And in this Substack article, the author speaks on this as well.

110

We have become so entrenched by the romanticization of corporate lifestyle

111

and shareholder value that we have started seeing ourselves as businesses to be sold and brands to be marketed.

112

I mean, look at the literal terms, high value man and high value woman, as I previously talked about.

113

So why does optimization culture persist?

114

is it still so big and why does it seem as though it's never going to decrease?

115

Because optimization culture and maxing culture thrives on discontent.

116

I remember my dad told me a story

117

and he used to work in sports marketing and he had a meeting with the owners of Jenny Craig.

118

And if you don't know what Jenny Craig is, Jenny Craig is a weight loss program.

119

I'm going to get this wrong, but somebody in the meeting said to one of the reps for Jenny Craig, besides meal plans, what exactly is it that you're trying to sell?

120

And the people at Jenny Craig said, we're selling hope.

121

And my dad told me this story

122

because it made him a bit uncomfortable in the sense

123

that the markets thrive on the consumers feeling like they are in a constant state of lack.

124

Whether it's lacking hope, lacking material goods, money, whatever it is,

125

the advertisements you see all subconsciously try to make you feel

126

as though you are lacking in what they can provide you with.

127

And listen, I'm not trying to knock Jenny Craig.

128

I've heard a lot of Jenny Craig success stories.

129

The person who said that didn't intend to say it in a malicious manner, but I just, after thinking deeper on that,

130

it made me realize just the true agendas behind the advertisements that we are so exposed to all the time.

131

Every single thing is an advertisement on how to better yourself.

132

The author of this article then goes into something that's very interesting about why they think that this optimization culture,

133

self-optimization, maxing culture has blown up so much.

134

The author states that the issue is perhaps rooted in the fact that the American dream, the house, the family, the job, is no longer attainable anymore.

135

So since us youths have given up on that, we are now looking to spend our money on our appearances or our bodies,

136

which is the one thing that we perhaps can control.

137

But also, I think that there can be a healthy balance.

138

I think you can find a balance between optimization, healthy optimization, and performative optimization or maxing.

139

How do we know when it's healthy and how do we know when it's performative?

140

I think something that's so interesting is thinking about why is there an option to have friends on your Apple Watch?

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Why is there an option to have friends on Strava?

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Why is it important to have followers on your fitness page?

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If it really was for yourself, why would you need other people to see it or want other people to be paying attention and to see it?

144

Or why do you want to look at other people's stats?

145

When you think really deeply, why do you want that?

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And I have really been trying to question these habits that I have, like these performative habits that I have.

147

For me especially, it's with books.

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And if I read like one book a month, oh my god, I'm a failure.

149

I shouldn't even be making book videos on YouTube.

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Like I'm obviously not reading enough.

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Hey, who cares?

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It's just like those memes, you if you win, you if you lose.

153

And it's just still a beautiful scene.

154

It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

155

What does matter is the joy and the learning that you achieved through reading.

156

I also saw a TikTok by a creator that I just loved so much.

157

Peptides, Pilates, Protein, Higher Rocks, Hot Girl Walk.

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Why is everything about wellness, Like, why is every single thing about, you know, being fit, being well,

159

collagen this, collagen that, why don't you just put the collagen in the bloody cocktail?

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Are we not allowed to have fun anymore?

161

Are we just not allowed to, like, not care?

162

But if you're a young person and you're walking around drinking matcha and going to Pilates every single weekend with your friends, get a life.

163

I wasn't thinking, oh my God, calorie deficit, blah, blah, blah.

164

Should I go and have a Joe and the juice?

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joe and the freaking juice something mcdonald's can you just like live life and love

166

and laugh a little bit okay even us older gals right

167

everything is about the wellness okay i want to be well i'm taking my vitamins

168

but i also want to have a shot okay

169

and be well in your own time okay go to the

170

gym do the pilates drink the green juice like i don't know bathe in the matcha

171

if you want to or I gargled the peptides.

172

Can we just, can we just live our lives?

173

Enjoy your life.

174

So I did have to cut it down quite a bit because it's a very long video, but essentially what the creator is getting at is

175

that there is a culture of young people becoming so obsessed with work and hustle.

176

And it's like, yes, when you live in a big city or or really anywhere now, you will need a job and you will have responsibilities.

177

For the majority of people, that is just the reality.

178

Or you have multiple jobs, or you're in school and have a job.

179

Last year, I was school full-time and working full-time.

180

And let me tell you, it's not fun.

181

But that is the sad reality for a lot of people nowadays.

182

And I think it's really important to remind ourselves that in our 20s, we don't need to have our career figured out.

183

We don't need to be able to afford a down payment

184

on a house We don't need to be getting married

185

and having babies if you have the ability to do all of those things and that's what you want to do

186

obviously More power to you.

187

That's wonderful And I wish you all the best

188

but for the most part people can't afford to be doing those things

189

and people don't have everything Organized at this point in their lives

190

and it causes

191

so much stress for Literally all of my friends in their 20s who I speak to feel the exact same way.

192

They're like, I'm a failure.

193

I'm behind I'm this I'm that I'm like we're 25 years old.

194

We're still kids in the world So it has been uh, probably over a week since I came back to this video Hi mister.

195

We have a friend now.

196

We have a friend.

197

This is Carmi.

198

Carmi for short, of course and he's the best.

199

But as I was saying, there really is an ongoing trend with people in their 20s feeling like they need everything figured out right now.

200

And if they don't, then they're a failure, which I think has significantly contributed to the fact that everyone

201

and their mama is on antidepressants or some kind of SSRI, myself included.

202

You're not.

203

You're happy as a clam, But what I really wanted to try

204

and figure out from the making of this video is what are the lasting effects of maxing culture

205

and how can we possibly break these habits that we've created

206

that are so unsustainable and just constantly make us feel like shit.

207

I read a Substack article called Why Can't I Enjoy Anything Anymore by Push to Prod

208

and it was so eye-opening and so well written and I just absolutely loved it.

209

The author basically just talks about he's realized

210

that he no longer finds a lot of joy

211

or fulfillment in things that he used to and he's trying to figure out why exactly that is.

212

In one part of the article he says, the things I can still enjoy have one thing in common, they produce something.

213

Code ships, videos get published, projects get finished, there's an output, something to show for the time spent.

214

The things I can't enjoy anymore don't produce anything.

215

Because of maxing culture, we have literally rewired our brains to think that if there is nothing to show for it,

216

then that action had no merit or no meaning whatsoever.

217

And every moment that we spend doing something for fun,

218

we feel like takes away from the time we could have spent creating something or making something of ourselves.

219

When really that's not our fault, it's impossible to constantly be in a state of inspiration and creativity at all times.

220

But we feel that way because everybody is struggling so much

221

because of the financial situation of the world that even when you're working your ass off, like most people are, you still feel like my life isn't where it should be.

222

And I do get it, you know, like we all have a fire under our ass right now to grind now

223

so we can retire later or have a great life later but how long does that road actually go?

224

I feel like it's a never-ending road that eventually just eats up our lives until we are finally, maybe, hopefully, retired.

225

And then you're like, I should have done all those things when I was in my 20s.

226

Like, why was I so concerned about building my future?

227

Like, my future is still being built.

228

You're never done building your future.

229

Your future is imminent.

230

And my mom's calling me.

231

Something that helps me, and as cheesy as this sounds.

232

Yes, hello.

233

Whenever I get so anxiety ridden and I think about all the things

234

that I should be doing instead of relaxing or instead of enjoying time off, I always just say to myself,

235

it is a wonderful fluke that we exist in the first place.

236

And there is honestly nothing you are supposed to do.

237

We are here to enjoy our lives and if we have passions and we have ambitions, that's amazing.

238

And 100% everybody wants to live a comfortable life for themselves, of course.

239

The trend now is multi-millionaire, billionaire, like crazy wealth, like I want a Lamborghini.

240

Nobody needs a Lamborghini.

241

Why exactly do you want that if there was no other person on earth.

242

So what exactly is the solution to this?

243

I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I know the solution to this

244

because I do suffer from this all the time, but I think part of the solution is just noticing.

245

Notice when self-improvement is for you or when it's for others.

246

Notice when people

247

that you look up to are trying to convince you to

248

spend an exorbitant amount of money in the name of bettering yourself.

249

I think sometimes I, just like others, tend to forget that we live in a very surveyed,

250

calculated world where we are accosted by advertisements literally every five seconds.

251

And these companies, you know, I used to work in marketing.

252

These companies will literally say and do anything to get you to buy what they're selling.

253

That's the name of the game.

254

So don't believe what all of these skincare brands are telling you, what all of these fitness plans, gym plans.

255

It becomes impossible to kind of decipher what you actually enjoy

256

and what you've just been told for so many years that you should enjoy.

257

And I think that that's a really important distinction to try and make.

258

Try living an entire day without logging anything.

259

Do your workout without your Apple Watch.

260

Go to sleep without recording it.

261

Just remember what it's like to be little and just exist in the day,

262

in the present, enjoying the things in front of you.

263

And when you're bored, figuring out something else that inspires you or something more fun to do.

264

I think some of the most brilliant ideas comes from when you're bored, when you're not on your phone doom scrolling.

265

The amount of time I spend on my phone just scrolling reels or TikTok is abhorrent.

266

It's really bad.

267

Do something that you love or something that you find fun

268

or just do something in a beautiful setting or with someone that you love.

269

Have a beautiful meal, have a great drink, have a cool cocktail, and don't take a picture of it.

270

Don't post it on your story.

271

Just sit in the presence of it.

272

Although it's uncomfortable and you think you're going to forget or you're not going to remember this detail, maybe you won't.

273

But then you'll realize over time that that's okay.

274

How often do you actually even go back and look at the photos that you take of the food that you eat.

275

Honestly, we can do hard things.

276

Keep creating things if that's what you really love, but create something that's just for you.

277

Try and create something that you actually aren't going to share.

278

Try and dig deep to remember why exactly you love doing this in the first place.

279

To try and remember what part of the process it was that excited you so much before it became a commodity.

280

Just do something with no optimization benefit.

281

Call your friends, watch a movie and laugh and don't log it on Letterboxd.

282

Have a thought and don't as a man get a microphone and start a podcast.

283

There's really so many options.

284

Do I want to take a picture of my dog sleeping soundly and peacefully and blissfully on my lap right now?

285

Yeah.

286

And maybe that's just the process of getting older.

287

Maybe you just genuinely do enjoy working and the act of giving back to the man as we get older, but I really, I really,

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really doubt that that's the truth.

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And I don't want this video to come off as some like uppity privileged person saying, just relax, don't work so hard, just enjoy your life.

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Because that's not at all my point.

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I've had a job since I was 14 and worked so many different jobs.

292

I had to move out of my apartment

293

because I was in such bad debt and then had to move back in with my dad.

294

At the end of it all, I do think it is that damn phone.

295

If you guys enjoyed this video, my name is Olivia and this is Livy's Book Club and thank you so much for watching.

296

I really appreciate your time if you made it this far.

297

Do something for you today.

298

Love you.

299

Bye-bye.

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Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione

Questa lezione di conversazione di livello B2 si basa sul video “this is why you can't enjoy anything anymore”. Questo video contiene 299 frasi e 3765 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 22:52. Chi parla ha un ritmo naturale di circa 165 parole al minuto, vicino a una conversazione quotidiana. Il 84% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese; conviene studiare le altre prima di iniziare.

Vocaboli chiave di questo video

Le 15 parole più avanzate del video, con pronuncia e significato:

Parola	Pronuncia	Significato
optimization sostantivo	/ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/	ottimizzazione
calorie sostantivo	/ˈkæləɹi/	caloria
advertisement sostantivo	/ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/	pubblicità, annuncio
collagen sostantivo	/ˈkɑləd͡ʒən/	collagene, collageno
matcha sostantivo	/ˈmɑ.t͡ʃə/	matcha, maccha
peptide sostantivo	/ˈpɛptaɪd/	peptide
hustle verbo	/ˈhʌsəl/	affrettarsi, darsi da fare
retire verbo	/ɹəˈtaɪɹ/	ritirarsi
measurement sostantivo	/ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/	misurazione, misura
antidepressant sostantivo		antidepressivo
entrench verbo	/ɪnˈtɹɪnt͡ʃ/	scavare, sterrare
optimize verbo	/ˈɑptɪmaɪz/	ottimizzare
wellness sostantivo	/ˈwɛl.nɪs/	benessere
thrive verbo	/θɹajv/	prosperare
ironically avverbio	/aɪˈɹɑnɪkli/	ironicamente

I phrasal verb che sentirai

Parola	Pronuncia	Significato
figure out verbo		scoprire, rendersi conto
go back verbo		tornare
blow up verbo		saltare in aria, esplodere
come up with verbo		ideare, escogitare
take away verbo	/ˌteɪk əˈweɪ/	togliere
wake up verbo	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	svegliarsi

Frasi da ripetere

Frasi brevi e complete del video che puoi riutilizzare nella conversazione di tutti i giorni:

When am I going to finish it?
When did we start the bottomless pit of self-optimization and why?
Are we not allowed to have fun anymore?
Are we just not allowed to, like, not care?
Can we just, can we just live our lives?

La grammatica di questo video

Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:

Struttura	Nel video
“Used to” used to + verbo — un’abitudine o uno stato passato che non è più vero	used to demonstrate · used to have · used to work
Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adesso	has been · have been · they've turned
Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo fa	can't be sold · was popularized · was actually popularized
Frasi relative who / which + frase — un’informazione in più su una persona o una cosa	people who are · person who said

Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione

Chi parla usa 82 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come don't, you're, I'm. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.

I suoni “sh” e “zh”: optimization /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/, measurement /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/, antisocial /ˌæntiˈsəʊʃəl/, fascination /fæsɪˈneɪʃən/, luxurious /lʌɡˈʒʊəɹi.əs/
Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: optimization /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/, advertisement /ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/, ironically /aɪˈɹɑnɪkli/, inadequate /ɪnˈædəkwɪt/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/

I suoni difficili per chi parla italiano:

/h/ — va soffiata, non è muta: hustle /ˈhʌsəl/, abhorrent /æbˈhɔɹənt/, shareholder /ˈʃɛəˌhəʊl.də(ɹ)/, hobby /ˈhɑ.bi/, whatsoever /ˌ(h)wʌtsoʊˈɛvɚ/
Consonante finale — senza aggiungere una vocale dopo: advertisement /ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/, peptide /ˈpɛptaɪd/, measurement /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/, entrench /ɪnˈtɹɪnt͡ʃ/, optimize /ˈɑptɪmaɪz/
/æ/ — più aperta della “e”: calorie /ˈkæləɹi/, advertisement /ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/, inadequate /ɪnˈædəkwɪt/, abhorrent /æbˈhɔɹənt/, antisocial /ˌæntiˈsəʊʃəl/

Come esercitarsi con questo video

Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
Inizia a velocità 0,75×, fai shadowing frase per frase e torna alla velocità normale quando diventa facile.
Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come optimization, calorie, advertisement.

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?

Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.

Tecnica dello shadowing: leggi la guida completa passo dopo passo →

Pratica di Shadowing: this is why you can't enjoy anything anymore. - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

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Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione

Vocaboli chiave di questo video

I phrasal verb che sentirai

Frasi da ripetere

La grammatica di questo video

Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione

Come esercitarsi con questo video

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?