Shadowing Practice: i’m afraid of my full potential - Learn English Speaking with Video
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294 sentences
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How much do you really trust that you have your own back?
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That you're gonna be there when you fall, that you are gonna take care of it.
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It is incredible, truly, how we actually can do anything.
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It feels impossible and it feels like you're being delusional
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and crazy sometimes when your dreams seem so different from what your reality is, but it can be one.
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And so much of the time, people are always like, anything is possible, follow your dreams, all this stuff, but it's like, okay, but how do I do that?
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How do I trust myself?
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Whenever we know that a type of change is necessary, we can just imagine what that discomfort feels like and we stay far away.
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We would actually be moving towards more change, more productivity, more growth, more opportunities,
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if we weren't paralyzing ourselves in a perpetual state of stress and fear.
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Doing what you say you're gonna do turns you into a person that you can rely on.
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No matter what you're doing in order to reach your full potential, you can be somebody who you can fall back on.
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It feels impossible, but it's not.
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I wanted to chat about something that I have been thinking about a lot, probably all summer.
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And that thing is being afraid of my own potential.
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And what do I mean by that?
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Well, I say this because sometimes I find myself restricting my own experiences and opportunities due to the fear of change.
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This is my peaceful time today.
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No phones, no distractions, just me, you, my journal, some tea, some flowers wow yeah just all my favorite things
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which brings me to the sponsor of today's video yeah yeah guys the sponsor of today's video is it world
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so let me tell you a little bit about this
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because i have been drinking this tea every day i have
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loved loose leaf tea for a long time ever since i started getting into herbalism.
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I'm not, I'm a beginner.
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I'm a beginner.
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That's why I love IT World, because they make it really easy for beginners.
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There's an entire realm and practice, and IT World is a perfect step into that realm.
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I like to start my day with green tea.
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There are just so many benefits, but jasmine green tea is what kicks it up a notch.
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IT World is kind of like my dream, because this jasmine green tea set that I got is the perfect amount of knowledge.
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It gave me everything that I needed to know
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when it came to the different types of jasmine green teas and the entire scenting process, all the different types of ways to brew it,
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and it came with these tea bags
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that you basically just put the loose leaf tea into and steep it or brew it however you'd like to.
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They give you absolutely everything you need to know, and jasmine green tea goes through a scenting process that dictates the aroma of the tea,
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and so getting one of these collections allows you to try all the different types.
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It's been the perfect first step into educating myself more on traditional Chinese tea.
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I'm excited to learn more about the practice itself as a whole, but every single morning, I have been thoroughly enjoying this.
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So if you guys are wanting to educate yourself a little bit more about traditional tea
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and it's something that you're interested in, you love a subtle, delicious pick-me-up in the morning that is good for your brain and smells like flowers, oh there's just nothing better.
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If you want to try your own, please use my code for 10% off.
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I promise you it is worth it and I am so excited to continue to enjoy my teas.
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I'm almost out of the one that's scented nine times and the one that is scented seven times.
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I just love the jasmine aroma.
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I promise you it's an amazing first great step into learning more about traditional tea and enjoying tea.
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Like I said, they have multiple options, so definitely try it out and use this code to make your life a little bit easier when you do.
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Thank you, IT world.
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I have been feeling afraid of my own potential.
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But what does full potential even mean?
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What does that mean to me?
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What does that mean to you?
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Guys, we have some really exciting flowers that we're working with today.
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Oh my god, there's a little bug.
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The actual definition of potential means having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.
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So really, it's talking about a change being made, something in the future, something that's not now.
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That's what I've been reflecting on is I am afraid of moving out of my current way of thought
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and thinking and making change in order to progress into the future.
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Obviously, we're always changing and evolving.
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I don't think that we can ever reach our full potential, our max capacity.
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We don't have a limit to how much we can grow and change as people, because we're always changing and evolving,
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I think our definition of full potential is always changing as well.
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What I'm saying when it comes to full potential
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is what we feel like we could be doing
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and what would make us feel the most fulfilled and satisfied with ourselves and our life experience.
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That's what I'm thinking about.
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And whenever I'm saying I'm afraid of my full potential, I'm saying that I'm afraid of that and what it means to get to that point.
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If I feel like we're not that right now, that means that something has to change in order to be there.
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I think our bodies know that, that some sort of change is necessary sometimes to get to a point that we say we want to go,
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but whenever we know that a type of change is necessary, a type of rewiring or building of a certain habit is necessary,
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we can just imagine what that discomfort feels like and we stay far away.
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Full potential, I think, is used in a pretty negative connotation.
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I mean, people putting themselves down saying, oh, I'm not reaching my full potential or oh yeah, you have potential but you're not using it.
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I think it can be looked at very negatively, but a reason that it's so negative and we feel like we're comparing ourselves to something else In the future,
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like I said, that's what potential means, having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.
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If we're comparing ourselves to that idea, we're associating it with something being different than us, some sort of change being necessary, and then we get scared.
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Therefore, we're just going to keep ourselves in the same cycle.
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There's so many things that we can do
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that we can bring our minds to feel and practice in our everyday life now,
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and that's where the uncomfortable change is necessary so that we're not constantly comparing ourselves to an idea in the future, so that we are using that idea of us,
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our full potential, to inspire us.
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And change is inevitable.
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It's something that none of us can avoid, but I try to avoid it at all costs.
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And honestly, maybe change is not even that scary in reality, but we are so intimidated by it because it means the unknown.
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When you make a big decision, sometimes you don't know what's on the other end of it.
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Even if I knew working out three times a week was going to get me closer to my fitness goals,
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my body still doesn't trust the discomfort of actually disciplining myself to go to the gym or put in that uncomfortable work.
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My body doesn't trust the process enough to accept the unknown and to embrace that.
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Instead, I reject it and I get very afraid.
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I'm afraid of change because I'm afraid of the unknown.
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Change could actually be a really great thing.
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If anything, if we're trying to get to our full potential, we could be viewing it as exciting.
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And oh my gosh, wow, that's gonna get me to feeling better, you're telling me?
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Yeah, there's an uncomfortable process of maybe building this habit or doing this thing or making sure that I'm holding myself accountable, but you're telling me that the other end of it,
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I'm gonna feel healthier, I'm gonna feel happier.
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Wow, like change, that could be exciting.
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But instead, because it's the unknown, I feel like we reject it and automatically make it something very scary.
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Even if it could be something so positive and wonderful for us, and we know that, our body doesn't want to accept it because it's still change.
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It's still the unknown, which makes it scary.
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So what do we do about that, guys?
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Like, I'm genuinely asking you, even if change is a good thing and we're still scared of it, what do we do?
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So yeah, whenever I feel the need to take life so seriously, to worry about everything, it's because I want a sense of control.
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Because that sense of control helps me feel safe amidst scary things in life such as change.
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So whenever people tell me, oh just lighten up, it's gonna be fine, whatever, I tense up.
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I almost feel more stressed because in my mind I think, okay well who's gonna worry about that?
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Okay well if nobody's stressing out about that then it's never gonna get done, I try to justify my stress and worry
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because I associate it with helping me get something done
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or helping me have enough discipline about something or helping me prioritize something.
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But how much change or work can actually be done in a constant state of stress, worrying, fearing growth, fearing change,
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how much can really be done there?
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And that's the point that I'm trying to make is I'm not saying let's drop all of our responsibilities, just not care about this life?
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No, I'm saying that we would actually be moving towards more change,
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more productivity, more growth, more opportunities if we weren't paralyzing ourselves in a perpetual state of stress and fear.
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So I'm realizing that if I'm going to allow change
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and I'm going to get any more comfortable with the idea of change, going through change, I have to let go of that belief
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that accumulating worry and stress about a certain change or about anything is going to keep me stuck.
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If I can let go of some of that worry, take life a little less seriously, change is still going to be painful.
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That is something that your perception can only change so much.
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I've definitely heard of people that enjoy putting themselves out of their comfort zone.
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They've gotten to enjoy that because they've done it.
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They've trusted the process.
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They've reaped the rewards and now they're ready to do it again.
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Yet trusting the discomfort is not always an easy thing to do.
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Making a transition in life, it's all different from what we're familiar with at the moment.
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And evolving us as people.
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And it's amazing that we can experience change.
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We can evolve.
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We can feel uncomfortable feelings.
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We can feel joyful, satisfactory feelings.
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It is great that we have the whole spectrum.
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But it's not always fun.
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This is also where I'm asking myself, okay, well, what am I supposed to do? how am I supposed to go through something so uncomfortable?
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Because based on certain events in my life, I've become accustomed to my comfort and I prefer my comfort over putting myself in difficult situations.
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So I ask myself, okay, well, what am I gonna do then?
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When I know that something in my life requires a change and I can sense that, the more I continue to grow as a person and evolve,
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the things that I'm going to need or want or experience are also going to change.
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And accepting that into my life, I have to go through a lack of familiarity.
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I'm going to have to be okay with that.
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Here are some things that I think we can do.
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Number one is grounding ourselves through the discomfort.
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We know, our body knows based on past experiences, the life we've lived, that change doesn't always feel so comfortable.
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No matter how big or small a habit or routine
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that you're building or a big transition you're going through in life, right?
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We know that those things are difficult and they do require effort.
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Sometimes that effort is physical, sometimes it's mental, it's both sometimes.
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We're expecting that discomfort.
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That's kind of what keeps us stuck because we fear that,
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but I think if we do have this goal of growing as a person and moving through life... So we're back.
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My camera died.
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That's not great.
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It's getting a little dark out here.
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I have now lit a candle, and I took that time that I had away for a second to create this contraption.
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We have the ability to ground ourselves through the discomfort a little bit.
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We can do this by just bringing ourselves back to what makes us feel calm, what makes us feel grounded.
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It just depends why you're feeling uncomfortable with change.
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For me, I tend to feel like when I have that lack of control, I'm not safe.
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So really like telling myself that I'm safe and taking deep breaths.
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Personally, for me, just like saying those helpful affirmations, taking some solitude meditation time.
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It sounds repetitive.
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Oh, meditate, center your mind when we are moving through those tough moments that feel impossible, that we feel like we can't conquer,
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maybe we can regulating ourselves and bringing ourselves back.
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There are ways to build a community to bring you that type of peace.
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There are activities, there is exercise, there is meditation.
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Like there is so much that we can do.
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Like I said, it's just not always comfortable to make that decision and trust that process and feel the discomfort of change.
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But there are things that help in the process.
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Whatever brings us a sense of fulfillment and grounding, satisfaction, peace, whatever does that,
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allowing that trust to guide you, which brings me into the next topic here is trusting yourself.
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Yeah, right, right.
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Do you trust yourself?
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Because if change is so excruciatingly painful, then there's a good chance that you might not trust yourself that much?
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How much do you really trust that you have your own back, that you're gonna be there when you fall, that you are gonna take care of it?
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How much do you trust that you will be taken care of no matter what?
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How will you deal?
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How will you deal with it?
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Because like I said, change is inevitable.
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Pain is inevitable.
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Evolving and growth.
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And how are we gonna get through any of that if we don't trust that we're gonna be taken care of, that we don't have something to ground ourselves in? but you guys know that's not always easy.
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I'm getting more comfortable with change because I'm starting to trust myself more.
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Whoa, we are really playing a game of balance here.
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This is kind of crazy guys.
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Okay, trusting myself has been the biggest piece as to why I feel confident in my life?
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How did I start trusting myself?
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How do we trust ourselves?
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When I was thinking about this, I was thinking that there are two big components to trusting myself.
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One is taking care of my inner child.
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Just stick with me.
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Stick with me.
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It's gonna make sense.
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For a long time, and continuously, right?
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It's a journey.
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I have been stuck in certain negative thought loops, therefore negative situations in my life and repeating a lot of patterns
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and not really feeling like I could break out of them.
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I realized that I was just replicating early beliefs that I had formed in my life, what I thought would keep me safe and protected,
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because that is what I received whenever I needed to be protected.
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When you're conditioned into thinking that you deserve a certain type of behavior when you need something, that repeats itself.
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It shows up in our life through how we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others, what type of relationships we're willing to accept into our life,
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what we believe we're worthy of, how we perceive the world.
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Those early beliefs that our mind and our body form, those live on until we decide to break them.
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If you are conditioned into thinking a certain way and you believe
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that you're worthy of a certain type of outcome or behavior, you will continuously seek that out and accept that.
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I realized that I was stuck in that
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because there was a part of me that didn't feel safe
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and that was this young part of me that had formed those beliefs.
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That inner child didn't feel like it could rest or relax or set things down.
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It was always on edge.
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It didn't feel protected.
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My neck and shoulders get really tense because I feel like I'm always on edge.
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I'm still working through this, but I've learned recently kind of where it comes from.
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Because my body and mind felt like it couldn't trust because of these early beliefs formed, I stayed stuck in the same patterns.
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My therapist, she shared this little exercise, this excerpt from this book that I have started to look through now.
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I'm pretty sure it's called complex PTSD, but it talks about this exercise.
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This book goes into more detail about what this is, what this practice is, but to sum it up, it's a meditation where you close your eyes
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and you bring yourself back to a time where you didn't feel protected
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or you didn't feel safe and maybe certain behaviors were being inflicted onto you
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that made you not feel safe and you needed to be protected
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and you go back as your adult self and you go comfort
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that child that doesn't feel safe
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and you tell them what you would do in order to protect them and how you're going to do that moving forward.
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And like I said, it's a whole exercise that was just surface level detail.
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But after reflecting on that quite a bit and why my body felt this fear and like it couldn't trust, I realized that there was part of me,
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there was this inner child that was hurt and needed to be protected.
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And I was searching for that protection from a source that could never necessarily give it to me.
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It was something that I need to cultivate through the trust in myself in order to feel safe
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and secure so that I can move through change in life
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so I won't be held back in perpetual cycles of negativity that I felt like were impossible to break.
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Taking care of my inner child, that has been a big one.
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Through that exercise, you feel as though you are moving through life and able to take care of this part of yourself,
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this inner child that you love and that you care for so much.
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You want it to have fun and You want to do things for it, take care of it, make sure that it's enjoying life, but you are in the driver's seat.
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You are moving through this life and that is part of you that you're taking care of and that you are protecting.
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And number two, doing what I say.
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So you wouldn't think that it makes that much of a difference.
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It actually changes your confidence 100%.
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Changes it, flips it upside down when you start doing the things you say you're going to do.
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I promise you, even if it's one thing, I'm going to drink this amount of water every day.
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Just do that.
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Try it.
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Whoa, see what happens.
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It's actually crazy.
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You kind of are able to just rely on yourself a little bit more
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when you know that you're going to keep up with these habits.
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Doing what you say you're going to do turns you into a person that you can rely on.
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No matter what change or discomfort you're going through in life, no matter what you're doing in order to reach your full potential,
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you can be somebody who you can fall back on.
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You are gonna know what to do.
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Even if you're hurting, even if you're feeling pain or emotions, maybe like your inner child, you're there to take care of yourself.
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You will be there.
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You will be there.
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And I think that's the thing I'm telling myself.
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Building that trust.
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It's an easy way to kind of train yourself into it.
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Coming up with a little goal, baby steps, right?
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Like that's a whole other topic, but doing what you say you're gonna do.
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And anytime that I do follow through, no matter how difficult it is and I try to
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and be patient with myself through the process
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when I can finally commit to doing something
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and build a routine out of it and trust myself
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that I'll do this thing that I want
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or that's leading me to something
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that I want it allows me to trust myself I've been having trouble going through with the things
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that I say I'm gonna do because I'm afraid of
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that process and I think it's something that we all inevitably have to go through but why not Grow through it.
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Wow.
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Just came up with that one.
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I feel like that's fitting with our flower situation I really
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think the secret to making significant changes in life is trusting
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that There will be something someone to fall back on
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that it is going to be worth it that yes There's gonna be pain, but we can ground ourselves through it.
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We can learn to trust ourselves
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It feels impossible but it's not and so much of the time people are always like like anything is possible, follow your dreams, all this stuff,
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but it's like, okay, but how do I do that?
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How do I trust myself?
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How do I get through this discomfort of change?
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Because yes, like at the end of the day, I know it's possible.
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My wildest dreams are possible.
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I can picture it, but it's that in between.
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It's that thing, like we said, the potential, the gap that we feel there from ourselves now and the future, how do we move through that?
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I think that's the thing we always skip over and I'm no expert.
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This is just what i'm thinking about and what's helping me get through that gap.
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I know we can do this together I know that whatever change whatever thing you've been procrastinating on.
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Oh, i'll do this I'll get started on this.
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I'll start this thing at another time.
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I'll make this change I'll cut this person off.
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I'll start this hobby y'all whatever it is that thing Let's do it together.
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Even if it's uncomfortable, even
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if it doesn't look perfect at first baby steps grounding ourselves to the discomfort of the change or lack of familiarity, that's how we move forward.
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And if we have a vision for ourselves and we have something that we want to accomplish, that's how we can make that idea our reality.
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It is incredible, truly, how we actually can do anything.
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It feels impossible and it feels like you're being delusional
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and crazy sometimes when your dreams seem so different from what your reality is, but it can be one in that process of bridging them together
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and doing what we say we're gonna do and what we want to do.
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It's uncomfortable, but it can be done.
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And I'm trying to figure out how it can be done for us.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “i’m afraid of my full potential”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: trust, ourselves, potential, tea. This video has 294 sentences and 4029 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:47. The speaker talks at a natural 177 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| discomfort noun | /dɪsˈkʌmfɚt/ | Mental or bodily distress. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| evolve verb | /ɪˈvɑlv/ | To move (something) in regular procession through a system. |
| jasmine noun | /ˈd͡ʒæzmɪn/ | Any of several plants, of the genus Jasminum, mostly native to Asia, having fragrant white or yellow flowers. |
| scent noun | /sɛnt/ | A distinctive smell. |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
| beginner noun | /bəˈɡɪnɚ/ | Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started. |
| perpetual adjective | /pɚˈpɛt͡ʃuəl/ | Lasting forever, or for an indefinitely long time. |
| perceive verb | /pɚˈsiv/ | To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand. |
| meditation noun | /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/ | A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation. |
| inevitable adjective | /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ | Impossible to avoid or prevent. |
| aroma noun | /əˈɹoʊ.mə/ | A smell; especially a pleasant, spicy or fragrant one. |
| familiarity noun | /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/ | The state of being extremely friendly; intimacy. |
| paralyze verb | /ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/ | To afflict with paralysis. |
| delusional adjective | /dɪˈluːʒənəl/ | Suffering from delusions; having false or faulty beliefs. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| fall back on verb | To turn to as a substitute; to rely on as a backup. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| move forward verb | To cause to make progress. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| follow through verb | To execute or complete a commitment. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- How do I trust myself?
- What does that mean to me?
- What does that mean to you?
- How will you deal with it?
- How did I start trusting myself?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have been thinking · have been drinking · I've been reflecting |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | It's been · have been · I've definitely heard |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is scented · being made · can be looked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | somebody who you · unknown, which makes |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 148 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/, thoroughly /ˈθʌɹ.ə.li/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, delusional /dɪˈluːʒənəl/, affirmation /æfɝˈmeɪʃn/, connotation /ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/, excruciatingly /ɛkˈskɹuːʃiːeɪtɪŋli/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, familiarity /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/, delusional /dɪˈluːʒənəl/, continuously /kənˈtɪnjuəsli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like discomfort, uncomfortable, evolve.
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.