Shadowing Practice: How to Feel Beautiful When You Don’t Feel Pretty - Learn English Speaking with Video

I like how you got me saying,

yeah, but is she saying it right?

Yeah, yeah.

Is she saying it better than me?

Yes, baby.

No. Hello.

Welcome back, everyone, to the Olivia and Tai podcast,

to the power of love podcast we've read your comments um we've really loved interacting with you all

and seeing how you're all enjoying our podcast

so today we wanted to bring something

that i think you guys would really value

because you valued the last one that we made about confidence

and insecurities and we're talking about this today specifically

because i feel like we're both struggling well i'm struggling right

now with my confidence a little bit i do too i mean not specifically

but sometimes when i feel down i do feel i'm struggling

but when i was younger i struggled a lot yeah

so today we're going to talk about insecurities confidence

and how to overcome those insecurities especially based on your beauty

especially about your face your body appearance actually i think i'm struggling

because i was thinking about i wanted to go on a modeling cast since January

but because I wasn't confident with my body until now I'm still kind of waiting to get a perfect body

and to go on a modeling casting so I'm still not

that confident honestly and I'm struggling with my body I struggle wanted to get more muscles

and stuff yeah

so I wanted to talk about things about your appearance your

face how I actually see beauty in you you know yeah

it's true for example today I woke up with more acne than usual

and like just it's just really frustrating

because I'm doing all these things right I'm eating healthy I'm

exercising I'm going to the dermatologist I'm doing everything right I'm getting enough sleep I am

but it's like I still get acne and

so today this morning I just had to remind myself like I really had to just sit down and think to myself, okay, you're healthy.

You, there's, there's nothing wrong with, um, any way that your body's functioning right now.

And you can, you have the energy to work.

You have the energy to go to the gym.

You have a voice.

You can breathe.

There's so many things that I can do that I need to be grateful for.

And so I just had to remind myself of that and

that like my value isn't in my appearance and my value is in myself.

It's in my attitude towards life

and it's in mostly I think my personality whenever I feel

insecure I really just think about what what I am like

what my personality is too whenever I was insecure maybe

when I was younger and I was going to a party

and I had acne or like I was feeling bloated

or I was feeling ugly I would always remember you know the only thing

that matters is your attitude if you feel confident then you look confident as well

and I think honestly the most attractive people are just

because they're confident yeah not because they look extremely beautiful you know it's

because they're really confident i've seen a lot of like reels

or like talking about girls are not like super skinny and

or like they're not fashionable but for example i would just sitting like this like this

and i don't feel confident you know

but i was changed change my posture like this you think

maybe i'll be more confident yeah it really makes a difference even though it maybe sounds stupid

but it really does like there are a ton of girls

that i've met um that maybe you wouldn't think they're conventionally attractive

but it's just like they would walk into a room

and just get all of the guy's attention

and like i'm not saying a guy's attention is the goal

but like it's it's because they're confident that they would get all the attention and like um

like it was different to other friends that i had

that were beautiful and like they just had zero confidence in themselves

and they thought very little of themselves and

so of course you're going to attract

that kind of person you're going to attract the person

that like thinks that about you that doesn't see your confidence

and doesn't see you for like your value for what you are yeah

so you're first like you come first

if you don't value yourself then nobody will

so like this morning i had to remind myself that

because i'm like

if i'm here feeling sorry for myself acting like i'm the victim saying oh i'm i look

so bad and whatever then of course other people are going to see me

that way but if I myself I'm like no I'm fine

if somebody wants to criticize me they will I'm confident myself then nobody can hurt me exactly

and like you went through lots of moments of insecurity

when you were younger too so like how did you get past

that like what were the things that you repeated in your mind to yourself

and what got you through those really hard times like when people would criticize your appearance so especially about the appearance,

honestly, right now I really do think I look good.

But when I was younger, I really don't because the beauty standard in Asia, in China, you have to look very pale, very perfect skin, big eyes,

very sharp jawline, very pointed out nose.

This is what people usually like.

And when I was younger, when I was in middle school and in high school, I have a lot of acne on my face, like a lot, a lot break out.

And also on my skin, on my chest, or on my back.

Even the time, my mom was telling me, don't show your chest, don't show your back.

Or even like some of your arms because you have

so much acne and people might feel gross because you show up that you know they will judge you.

I mean I know she wanted to protect me, she doesn't want me to feel judged but at

that time I will literally feel okay because I have acne so I'm gross.

So I'm the one being wrong.

I'm the one like being because I have alchemy that's why people don't like me,

that's why people don't think I'm beautiful and I was struggling that for a couple couple years

I was going to the doctor taking medicines it doesn't heal at all

and then yeah I just feel very depressed

and very insecure even like I wanted to hang out with the guy I like

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if they kind of like don't want to hang out with me I would feel like oh maybe

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because I'm not beautiful you know

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and also at the time I was a little bit darker

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skin people give me like a nickname it's like little black

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yeah it's like made me really really insecure hey yeah seriously they call me shout hey

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and also as long as i get a little bit fat a little bit my mom would say oh you're

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so fat like even like right now like right now my

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mom would say you're kind of like fat fat you know

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so i was going through really hard shit when i was younger thinking about all the beauty standard and stuff.

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So I think when I really overcome it is like I decided to be myself

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because this is part of me and you kind of like accept you're not perfect and nobody's really perfect.

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So I kind of accept my imperfection.

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So I start to tell myself even you are not perfect, you can be confident.

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and I start to learn more things, learning new language and travel, do things for myself, then I feel more confident.

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I feel like, oh, once I start to wear some like, you know, tank top and don't cover my skin that much,

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and yeah, I just got compliments from others as well, because I was faking it.

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I was faking, okay, I don't care about it from first beginning.

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I really remember we travel to Turkey at the time.

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I was skinny at the time, but I still have a lot of acne scars on my back and stuff.

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I was thinking about maybe people will judge me.

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Maybe they will think it's a little bit gross, but I was faking it while I was walking on the street.

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I was thinking, oh, people might don't care.

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Right.

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And I was wearing very nice outfit.

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I was like, I'm beautiful.

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I'm beautiful.

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I keep telling myself my outfit looks good and everything's good just because of my skin, but I cannot change anything.

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So I walk in the street and a lot of people give me like compliments, says, oh, I like your outfit, oh, you look so fit, you're so beautiful.

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So they don't actually like move so close to look at your skin, you know, like to see, oh, this scar, this scar, whatever.

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Honestly, you're the one amplify everything about yourself.

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Actually, maybe nobody actually like realize it.

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When I showed you just now about my acne on my back, like the scars, and you told You told me you thought we get it from Consume, but I was telling you I got it from like 10 years ago.

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So nobody really noticed that, it's just you amplify this fear and insecurity for yourself.

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So when you try to fake it, not thinking about it, yeah, I think that's where the confidence comes from.

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And especially at the time I was in Turkey, I saw a lot of Europeans over there.

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Even they have like a, you know, belly, like a bigger one, they still show it, they don't care, they really don't care

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and they don't think like I'm fat so I'm gonna hide it.

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So that's what I really really like about it.

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That's why also kind of like I wanted to live in the Western world at the moment.

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I was thinking about wow people really don't care if they feel like okay they don't look that good shape.

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And they can still be beautiful.

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That's how I overcome it I guess.

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Especially about the appearance rights.

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Yeah and I think it's a cultural thing too.

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Yeah I think it's a cultural thing too.

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Like it has a lot to do with where you grow up and the people that you surround yourself with.

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And it's really good that you found

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that maybe more in the Western world where it's a lot more maybe just like normalized.

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I feel like, you know, people still criticize you.

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People still will talk bad about you behind your back.

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But I feel like it's just a lot more normalized.

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People realize that they're human and can't be perfect.

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You can't just hide yourself from humanity if you're not perfect because then nobody would leave their houses, you know.

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And it's such a terrible thing to go through when you're that young too.

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So for you to be able to find the strength in walking in the streets and just telling yourself that you're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful, even though you didn't think it, then eventually you get to the point where you do believe it.

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And that's it.

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It's really just fake it till you make it.

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Like that's what we've always talked about when it comes to confidence, I think.

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To fake it until you make it.

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I think there's another really important point is from my friends.

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And at the time I had a boyfriend, I think they're very supportive or telling me, okay you're beautiful my ex-boyfriend at the time he was telling

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me every single day you're beautiful you're very beautiful i think

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that helped me a lot that's really nice yeah i think

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that it's the people you surround yourself with too

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and you got into some really nice relationships yeah

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that was a really nice one okay so tell us how do you feel like actually do you feel really insecure

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like right now about your skiing it's just like it's just annoying like for me

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when I look in the mirror and it's like I'm feeling confident

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and it's like I see one coming out like it just brings you down you know

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because you're like you feel like the day is like going

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so well and then you just see that

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and it does it brings your confidence down for sure um

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but really it's like what you said i just have to continue telling myself telling myself telling myself

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and by telling me that myself that this morning i felt

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so much better after

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and i was like it's a great day i'm gonna enjoy

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my day i'm gonna do what i normally would do

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and not make myself feel worse because of it

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because sometimes people like they're already feeling bad

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and they themselves just make themselves feel worse and go more

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and more deeper deeper into that sadness

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but you can't fit into it you have to like you

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can't be the victim of your own story you have to

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find a way out you have to be resilient towards yourself

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too you know as a wise it's gonna be a loop you know

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because you're gonna become sad maybe eating some really bad food

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and then you'll cost you even more acne it's gonna be a very bad circle yeah

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and you're punishing yourself and really like you deserve it

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if that's the case you deserve it because you yourself are putting yourself deeper

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and deeper into that place you decide where you want to be in life

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and how you want to feel about yourself we all have the power to control how we feel about ourselves

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and our own level of confidence we just have to like

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work on it yeah slowly tell ourselves all in your mind you just need to practice it

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because maybe from first beginning you don't think in that way

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but you can start to tell yourself every single day practice thinking in this way

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and after accumulation i think you will feel oh I don't need to think about I'm beautiful.

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I'm naturally just feel I'm beautiful.

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Exactly, yeah, that's so true.

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So I have a question.

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So do you think you're beautiful?

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I do.

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So why do you think you're beautiful?

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Like right now, right now at this moment, I think I'm beautiful because

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um it's mostly my personality I really think

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that like I like the the ability

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that I have to maybe make bring the good side of

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people out um makes me feel beautiful also just being able to do what I'm doing

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and to like to everyday see like the good side of everything it makes me feel beautiful as well

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and also just like getting dressed up

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and feeling pretty you know yeah appearance wise it's really important to just do

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that sometimes because I used to be the type of person

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that would never get ready and I would just wear my pajamas everywhere

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and it'd be like oh I'm comfortable I'm good

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but ever since I started getting fixed up

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and getting ready it's really helped boost my confidence a lot

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just putting on some earrings maybe like doing my makeup a

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little bit not anything crazy putting on jewelry doing my nails wearing clothes

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that make me feel confident make me feel beautiful

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so there's different ways that I feel beautiful um

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but I think yeah since I was little I felt like I was beautiful too

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because um because of like I think it's because my family

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and the people around me really reinforced that into me

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that I was beautiful

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so it had a lot to with my upbringing I think they boosted my confidence a lot the family

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that I grew up with yeah what about you do you

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feel beautiful I do I do feel beautiful right now especially

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after I feel like I've been through a lot in my life

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when I was younger and also I struggled a lot

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and right now I can't stand where I stand right now

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I feel like my life is beautiful I think I'm a beautiful person no matter how bad things I've seen

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and like I'm always should choose to be a kind one.

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I always choose to be a warm-hearted one and I always choose to help people.

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That's why also I'm really think I'm beautiful because my personality.

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I really do.

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And also appearance rise, I think I'm beautiful too.

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And I like dressed up.

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You know, I like to dress up almost like every day because I feel like it makes me feel energized.

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When you see yourself in the mirror, dress up a little bit and then do your hair, do your nail, do your like eyelash

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and put some jewelry honestly you just feel beautiful yeah i think it's really good self-care you know

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when you're trying to do some external things for yourself

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and of course another thing is about exercise yeah about my boxing it really makes me feel beautiful

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because i feel like i'm doing a lot of things i'm improving my body

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and i'm curing my like eating disorder at the same time i get

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so fit buddy like yesterday we took the picture of the

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strong back yeah okay we'll insert the picture of our muscles yeah

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and also my abs gradually coming out

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and i can see my figures getting better

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so yeah guys exercise is really really important yeah yeah to help yourself not just inside

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but from outside also a lot of people that i know

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that have struggled with confidence in the past it just fixes itself

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and you start exercising and like sometimes it's a bit they get to an extreme level but still

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if it's doing good for you then like why not it's not hurting anyone it's not hurting you yeah

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and do it yeah i i think exercise really make me mentally released

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and also physically become better so i think i'm more beautiful right now

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and also because when you get sweaty

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and then i feel like all the acne

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or the bad energy you will you know It releases a lot of energy that's built up.

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That's why I think it's important for me to exercise today too.

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I'm feeling down and I'm feeling unmotivated and I just want to lay in bed and eat chocolate.

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But I know that it's going to make me feel really good

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if I just go to the gym for like 30 minutes just on the treadmill.

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Exactly.

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That's it.

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Or sometimes even you don't feel like you want to go.

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Put on your gym clothes.

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Find a nice gym clothes, guys.

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I think it's really important too.

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Because I have, Gami always say, I have all the fancy gym clothes every day.

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I have different gym clothes.

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Yeah, because I like to go to the gym, look pretty as well.

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I didn't know that.

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Yeah, like, because you always look really cool when I see you boxing.

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Yeah.

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I didn't know you had different outfit for every day.

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Yeah, every day.

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I usually go in like the same outfit and sometimes I feel gross

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because of that because it's like all sweaty

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and it like I'm like just trying to get out of the gym

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because I want to get home and shower and change yeah

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but like you have to enjoy your time at the gym

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exactly that's a really good tip that's why yeah just put on your very nice outfit for the gym

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and look at the mirror honestly you'll be happy and yeah

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and I just think I look good and I was in the gym interacting with people you know I'm showing my

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I'm charismatic.

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Your charisma.

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My charisma.

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Yeah, it's really good.

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Yeah, so dressed up, I think is one of it.

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And also taking shower to make you feel beautiful as well. That too.

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Showers are so important.

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I've really underestimated showers in the past.

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I used to not shower very often.

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I would just like wait.

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I would just wait until I really had to shower.

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Like when I was little, my parents had to force me to shower oh

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because i already get i know i was my brother's the same way he's really dressed like me but like

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don't spell his secret over here but

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so now like it really does like sometimes i feel like

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i need to earn a shower i need to go to the gym

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so that i can then shower

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but then i'm like no like i've been trying lately even

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if i don't exercise that entire day i still try

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and take a shower

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because i'm like it makes me feel clean it makes me

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feel confident yeah clean your hair looks better obviously otherwise your

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hair is just like down like gross yes feel icky everywhere like

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so yeah a shower really boosts your confidence i agree yeah

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so we have some tips for you guys exercise dressed up

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shower and what else effort into what you wear my question is okay My question is,

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what is something that you find beautiful in other people?

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Something that you see and right away you're like, that's beautiful, that's beauty to me.

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Kindness.

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When someone is kind, you think they're beautiful.

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Kind.

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It's always I see people.

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Like from first beginning, if I think there are kind people, I feel like those are the people I want to hang out with.

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That's why I see you um what i see in jason as well got me also antonio

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and all my friends

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because i think they're very kind all your friends are very kind oh my very admirable trait very true

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because i kind of like selected in this way

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because i feel like if you're not even kind to people you're not i don't think

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if the people are not kind to others they're uh they're

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also not kind to themselves you know yeah yeah they might

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have some like dark energy yeah what's an example of someone not being kind

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that you've met like where they're just like being rude to people like yeah rude um

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so i really appreciate people have moral sense

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and being helpful for example what i see for example where sitting at the restaurant

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or people are coming to like a begging

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or like trying to sell something i can see a lot

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of times you're trying to help them to give them money

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or buy something from them because it's kind of like help i think i really appreciate

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that but a lot of people sometimes they just feel like oh they dressed up so dirty

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while they come to my table they'll be like oh walk away off you know i really hate

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that because sometimes people really need a little bit help and

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if you just give them like 20 pesos

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or 30 pesos you might really help them you know as

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what i see in people i think this is really important thing

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because honestly my mom taught me this one because

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when i was younger when the china still have homeless we don't have it anymore

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but before my mom always gave there's a guy who's playing the instrument on the bridge

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and he's blind

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so like my mom every time will go like to give

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him some money yeah I always learn from like learn

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that from my mom and even she saw like a old lady crossing the street

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and she would try to hold her

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and to ask her are you okay you want me to hold you

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and then we can go together yeah that's what I learned from my family I really appreciate

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that so I think that's a very very important trait for me to hang out with people like that.

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Not being rude or like because you think you have money

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or you're a cleaner so you think you're superior

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and you just kind of like hate someone else or like look down someone else, you know.

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Look down on them, yeah.

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Yeah, I think for me also like I think kindness.

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I've actually never really thought about it but the thing

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that I consider like most beautiful in someone is maybe we're

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gonna finish it there guys we already recorded a part two

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but we'll be posting that next week so stay tuned

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because we'll be talking about a lot of different tips on how to be confident

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and different examples and situations in our lives where we felt the most insecure

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which hopefully you guys can relate to

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so stay tuned for next week thank you guys also thanks

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people for giving us suggestions advice all your comments we've already seen

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so we would to try to improve our podcast

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so please grow up with us grow up with us see you in the next episode

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What You'll Learn from This Conversation

This video is a goldmine for building conversational fluency and emotional expression in English. You’ll practice discussing personal struggles and self-reflection—skills that make your speech relatable and authentic. Plus, you’ll learn to use phrases like “I’m struggling with…” and “I had to remind myself” to share vulnerable thoughts, a key part of real-life communication. Perfect for shadow speech practice, it helps you sound natural when talking about confidence and insecurities.

Listen For These Sounds

The dialogue is full of connected speech that native speakers use. Notice how “I’m struggling” becomes “I’m strug-gling” with a soft link between the words, or how “you’re healthy” sounds like “you’re hea-thy” with a smooth transition. Also, listen for reductions like “I’ve” instead of “I have” and “it’s” for “it is”—these small changes make your speech flow like a native’s. These patterns are essential for improving English pronunciation, so focus on mimicking them closely.

Say It Like a Native: Rhythm and Stress

To mirror the speakers’ natural tone, pay attention to stress and rhythm. Words like “confidence,” “insecurities,” and “grateful” are stressed on the first syllable—“CON-fi-dence,” “IN-se-cu-ri-ties,” “GRA-te-ful.” The speakers also use a rising intonation when asking questions (e.g., “Is she saying it right?”) and a falling intonation for statements, which adds emotion. Practice shadowing this video daily—repeat lines right after the speakers, matching their pace and emphasis. Using a shadowing site can help you track your progress, but even repeating aloud while watching works! Remember, the goal is to sound like you’re having a real chat, not reading from a script. With time, you’ll notice your English sounds more natural and confident—just like the speakers in the video.

Ready to start? Hit play, pause, and repeat—your journey to better English starts with shadow speech and small, consistent steps. You’ve got this!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you don't value yourself then nobody will
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to be · used to not
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've read · i've seen · i've met

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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