Shadowing Practice: I Read 100 Regrets from Dying People: Here's What I Found - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I spent two weeks reading the final words of dying people.
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hospice interviews, deathbed letters, last conversations recorded by nurses, chaplains, researchers, and family members.
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who had the presence of mind to write down what someone said when they knew the clock was almost done.
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I read over 100.
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I expected to feel sad, I did.
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But that's not what stayed with me.
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What stayed with me was the pattern.
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Because when people are dying, really dying, When there's no more time to perform or impress or pretend, They don't talk about what you think they'd talk about.
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They don't list their achievements.
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They don't mention their job title.
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They don't talk about the car they drove, or the house they bought, or the promotion they worked 60 -hour weeks to get.
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They talk about the things they didn't do, the words they didn't say, the life they didn't live.
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And one specific regret came up so often in so many different voices from so many different people, That by the 30th interview.
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I started highlighting it.
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By the 50th, I stopped being surprised.
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By the hundredth, I put the notebook down.
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and sat in silence for a very long time.
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because it wasn't their regret.
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It was mine.
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And I think it might be yours too.
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But before I tell you what it is, I need to walk you through what else I found.
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because the other regrets matter.
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And they set the stage for the one that breaks everything.
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the regrets that surprised me.
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I assumed dying people would regret the big dramatic mistakes.
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The Affair, The bankruptcy, the bridge they burned, the catastrophic decision that split their life in two.
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The stuff that makes for good movies.
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Almost none of them mentioned any of that.
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The regrets weren't dramatic, they were quiet, ordinary.
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The kind of things you wouldn't even notice you were doing wrong until you ran out of time to fix them.
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One woman, a retired teacher, 78 years old, said the thing she regretted most.
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was not telling people what they meant to her, while they were alive.
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She had a list in her head.
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People she loved.
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People who changed her life.
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People she thought about often.
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and she never told any of them.
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not because she didn't want to because it felt awkward.
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Because she kept telling herself she'd do it later.
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Because expressing love out loud, directly, without hiding it inside a joke or a birthday card.
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felt too vulnerable.
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So she stayed quiet.
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And now, Half of them were gone.
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and the words she never said were still sitting in her chest like mail that never got delivered.
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One man, a former engineer, said he regretted working through his kid's childhood, not in the dramatic, absent father way.
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in the quiet, I was there, but I wasn't there, Wei.
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He went to the recitals, but he was checking his phone.
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He was at the dinner table, but he was thinking about Monday.
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He was physically present and mentally clocked into a job that, from his hospital bed, he couldn't even remember why it mattered so much.
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His kids grew up with a father who was in the room, but not in the moment.
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And now the moments were gone, and the room was a hospital, and his kids were adults who visited on weekends, out of obligation, not closeness.
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That one sat with me for three days.
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Another woman said she regretted not letting herself be happy.
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Not that she was miserable.
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She wasn't.
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She just never fully let herself enjoy anything.
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There was always a "but." The vacation was beautiful, but she was thinking about the cost.
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The relationship was good, but she was waiting for it to fall apart.
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The job was going well, but she was sure it wouldn't last.
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She spent her entire life bracing for impact.
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and the impact never came.
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but neither did the joy.
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she white -knuckled her way through a perfectly good life and only realized it was good when it was almost over.
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If that doesn't sound like someone you know, it probably sounds like you.
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One man, 82, a retired accountant who spent 41 years at the same firm, said something that I haven't been able to shake.
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He said, I was so busy being responsible that I forgot to be alive.
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41 years.
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Same desk, same commute.
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Same lunch spot.
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He did everything right.
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Paid the mortgage.
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raise the kids.
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Saved for retirement.
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And when retirement finally came, He sat in the house, He'd spent 30 years paying off and realized he didn't know what he actually liked doing.
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not what he was supposed to like.
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what he actually liked.
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He'd never had time to find out.
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He was too busy being responsible.
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That's not a tragedy in the dramatic sense.
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Nobody would make a movie about it.
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but It might be the saddest thing I read.
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because he didn't lose his life to one bad decision, He lost it to a thousand responsible ones that never included himself. And here's...
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What got me?
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None of these people were asking for sympathy.
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They weren't bitter.
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They weren't angry.
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They were just...
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Honest.
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For the first time, maybe in their entire lives, they were being completely...
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painfully beautifully honest Because, What's the point of performing when there's no audience left to perform for?
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What's the point of "I'm fine"?
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when you're not going to be anything much longer.
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That honesty is what made this project so hard to read.
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Not the sadness, the clarity.
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Dying people see with a clarity, that living people can't access.
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Because living people are too busy, too distracted, to invested in the performance to stop and look at what's actually happening.
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the pattern underneath.
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After about 60 of these, I started seeing the architecture.
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The regrets weren't random.
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They clustered around the same handful of themes.
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And those themes weren't about what people did wrong.
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They were about what people never did at all.
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Nobody said, "I wish I'd made more money." Not one person.
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In 100 accounts.
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0. The thing you're probably stressing about right now.
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The thing keeping you up at three in the morning.
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the thing that drives 90 % of your daily anxiety, not a single dying person mentioned it.
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Nobody said.
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I wish I'd worked more.
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In fact, Almost every single person who mentioned work said the opposite.
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I wish I'd worked less.
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I wish I'd left the office earlier.
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I wish I'd understood that no company was going to stand at my funeral and thank me for all those late nights.
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Nobody said, "I wish I'd won more arguments." Nobody said.
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I wish I'd held that grudge longer.
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Nobody said, I wish I'd spent more time proving I was right.
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The things we fight about, the things we lose sleep over, The things we let destroy relationships, From the perspective of someone who's out of time, None of it mattered.
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Not a single fight was worth the cost, not one.
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I want you to think about the argument you're currently having with someone.
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the grudge you're carrying, the person you're not speaking to.
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From a hospital bed 30 years from now, do you think you'll remember what it was about?
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Or will you just remember that you lost someone and can't recall why?
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Drop a comment if you have someone in mind right now.
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I know you do.
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Everyone does.
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The ones that repeated.
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Five regrets came up over and over.
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Not exact words, but the same meaning.
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the same ache.
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The same quiet recognition that something had been wrong for a long time, and they just never stopped long enough to see it.
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I wish I'd stayed in touch with friends.
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This one hurt in a specific way.
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Not because people lost friends dramatically.
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because they let friendships dissolve slowly.
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Gradually through neglect, through busy schedules and unreturned calls and we should catch up sometime messages that never became actual plans.
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One man said he had five close friends at 30, and zero at 70.
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Not because of fights, because of time.
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because of the slow, silent erosion of connection that happens
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when you stop prioritizing people who matter and start prioritizing things that don't.
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How many friends have you quietly lost this year?
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not through conflict, through silence.
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through letting the gap get so wide that reaching out now feels awkward.
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That's not a social media question, that's a real one.
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And I think the number is higher than you want to admit.
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I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
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This one showed up in almost every account.
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people who swallowed their emotions for decades.
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who said "I'm fine" until it became their entire identity, who loved people and never said it, who were hurt, and never showed it,
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who disagreed and never spoke up.
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they built lives on silence and died with chests full of things they never let out.
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I wish I'd let myself be happier.
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This is the one that sounds strange until it lands.
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Happiness was available.
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It was right there.
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But they didn't take it because, They didn't feel they'd earned it.
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or because they were afraid that being happy meant something bad was coming.
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or because they were so used to worrying that peace felt suspicious.
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They chose anxiety over joy.
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Not because they wanted to, but because...
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Anxiety felt familiar and happiness felt like a trap.
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I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
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Self -explanatory. and devastating.
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Because, The people saying this aren't lazy people who wanted more vacation.
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They're people who gave their best years to companies that replaced them within two weeks of their departure.
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They traded time for money and then ran out of time and realized the money meant nothing.
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The one.
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I'm going to tell you now.
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And I need you to actually hear it.
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Not just read it.
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Hear it the way someone says it when they know they're out of time.
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The number one regret.
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The one that showed up in almost every conversation, every letter, every deathbed whisper from every kind of person.
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Rich, poor, educated, simple, married, alone.
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was this: I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, instead of the life others expected of me.
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That's it.
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That's the one.
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not money, not status not achievements.
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Not the career, not the house.
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The regret that outlasted everything else? was that, They spent their one life their only life, living someone else's version of it.
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their parents' version.
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their partner's version.
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their culture's version.
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their boss's version.
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society's version.
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The version that looked right.
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the version that made sense on paper.
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the version that everybody approved of.
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the version that was safe and respectable and comfortable and absolutely completely not theirs.
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They followed the path.
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They check the boxes.
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They did what they were supposed to do.
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And at the end of it all, lying in a bed, They'll never leave.
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The thing that burns isn't what went wrong.
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It's what never got the chance to go right.
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The dream they shelved.
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the passion they buried, The version of themselves they locked in a room at 19.
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and never let out.
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And the worst part?
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They knew.
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the whole time.
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They knew it wasn't their life.
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They knew they were performing.
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They felt it every day.
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That low hum of something being off, something not fitting, something missing.
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but they ignored it.
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because the cost of listening felt too high.
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Because choosing your own path means, disappointing people who planned a different one for you.
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because being true to yourself, truly true, is the most terrifying thing a person can do.
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so They didn't do it.
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and now they're dying.
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And that's the sentence they leave behind.
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I wrote about this on wise -joe .com when I realized that
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The thing we're most afraid of doing while we're alive is the thing we most regret not doing when we're dying.
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That gap between fear and regret, is where your entire life lives.
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The link is in the description.
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The mirror you didn't ask for.
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Now here's where this stops being about dying people, and starts being about you.
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Because you're doing it right now.
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You already know you are.
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You felt it when you read that sentence.
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that quiet little flicker in your chest that said, That's me.
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You're living some version of a life that isn't fully yours.
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Maybe it's the career your parents expected.
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Maybe it's the relationship you stay in because leaving would create chaos.
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Maybe it's the city you live in because moving would mean admitting the last five years were wrong.
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Maybe it's just the personality you perform every day.
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Because the real one got rejected once at 16, and you never let it out again.
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You know which part of your life isn't yours.
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You've known for a while.
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You think about it in the shower.
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You feel it on Sunday evenings when the week is about to restart.
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and something in your stomach tightens.
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You feel it when someone asks, Are you happy?
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And you say, yeah, a half second too late.
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and you tell yourself you'll deal with it later.
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when the timing is better.
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When you have more money, When the kids are older.
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When things settle down, When you feel ready, But the people in those hospital beds said, "Later, too." For 40 years,
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and later turned into a fluorescent lit room, and a nurse writing down their final regret.
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I'm not saying that to scare you.
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I'm saying that because you need to hear the math.
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You don't have unlimited time.
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You know that intellectually.
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Everyone knows that.
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But you live like you do.
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You live like there's always another decade.
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Another chapter.
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Another chance to finally start being yourself.
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The question that changes everything.
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I'm not going to tell you to quit your job.
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I'm not gonna tell you to leave your relationship.
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I'm not going to tell you to sell everything and...
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move to Bali and find yourself.
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That's not real advice.
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That's a fantasy dressed as courage.
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But I am going to ask you one question.
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The same question that every single one of those dying people wished someone had asked them 30 years earlier, If nobody was watching, if nobody would judge,
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If nobody would be disappointed, If you could build your life from scratch with zero expectations from anyone, What would it look like?
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Don't answer fast.
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Don't answer with what sounds good.
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Answer honestly.
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answer with the thing you've been carrying in the back of your mind for years that you've never said out loud.
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because saying it would make it real and real. is terrifying.
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That answer, whatever it is is the distance between the life you're living and the life that's actually yours.
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And that distance?
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That's the regret.
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That's what ends up on the hospital bed list.
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not the dream itself.
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the distance you never closed.
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You don't have to close it all at once.
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You don't have to blow up your life.
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But you have to stop pretending the distance doesn't exist.
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Because pretending is how 40 years pass.
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Pretending is how you end up in a room at the end of your life saying, I wish I'd had the courage.
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The courage wasn't for the big leap.
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It was for the small, honest admission that you've been living someone else's answer, to a question that only you can answer.
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Here's what 100 regrets taught me.
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1. Nobody at the end of their life wishes they'd made more money.
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Nobody.
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Not one.
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The thing you're sacrificing your health, your relationships, and your peace for is the thing that disappears completely from your list of priorities the moment time runs out.
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2. The relationships you're neglecting right now are the ones you'll grieve the most.
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Not because they ended badly, because they ended quietly.
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through silence and busy schedules and the assumption that there's always more time.
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Three.
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Happiness isn't something that happens to you.
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It's something you allow.
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And most people never allow it because they don't feel they've earned it.
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or because they're afraid that good things come with a price.
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So they lived their whole life braced for disaster.
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and the disaster that actually comes is that they never enjoyed anything four.
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Working hard isn't the problem.
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working hard on someone else's dream, while yours collects dust is the problem.
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Every hour you spend building something you don't believe in is an hour stolen from the thing you do.
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5. The number one regret isn't about what people did.
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It's about who they never became.
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the truest version of themselves that they shelved because the world handed them a script and they followed it.
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Don't follow the script.
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Write your own.
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Even if your handwriting is terrible, Even if the first draft is embarrassing.
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Even if nobody claps.
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The people I read about aren't here to make different choices.
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That part is over for them.
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Their words exist now only as warnings.
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Quiet, honest, too late warnings sent from the finish line to people who still have time.
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You still have time, but not as much as you think.
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Nobody ever thinks they're running low until they are.
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And nobody ever changes, eventually.
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They change on a specific day, in a specific moment.
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When something lands hard enough to make later, feel like a lie they can't tell anymore.
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Maybe this is that moment.
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Maybe you're sitting here right now and Something in this video hit a nerve you weren't expecting.
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Something made you go quiet.
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Something made you think about a conversation you need to have.
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A dream you need to dust off.
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A version of yourself you locked away because the world told you it wasn't practical.
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I don't know what your one regret would be if this was your last day.
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But you do, you've always known.
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And the only difference between the people I read about and you is that you still get to do something about it.
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Don't read this and nod and close the tab and go back to the life that isn't yours.
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Not this time.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “I Read 100 Regrets from Dying People: Here's What I Found”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: regret, nobody, version, wish. This video has 321 sentences and 3039 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:47. The speaker talks at a natural 171 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| deathbed noun | /ˈdɛθˌbɛd/ | The bed on which someone dies. |
| grudge noun | /ɡɹʌd͡ʒ/ | Deep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about something or someone, especially due to perceived mistreatment. |
| prioritize verb | /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/ | To value, do, or choose something first, or before other things. |
| shelve verb | /ʃɛlv/ | To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves. |
| terrify verb | /ˈtɛɹɪfaɪ/ | To frighten greatly; to fill with terror. |
| brace noun | /bɹeɪs/ | A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock. |
| neglect verb | /nɪˈɡlɛkt/ | To fail to care for or attend to something. |
| clarity noun | /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.ti/ | The state or measure of being clear, either in appearance, thought or style; lucidity. |
| retire verb | /ɹəˈtaɪɹ/ | To stop working on a permanent basis, usually because of old age or illness. |
| quietly adverb | /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/ | Producing little or no noise. |
| chaplain noun | /ˈt͡ʃæp.lɪn/ | A member of a religious body (who is often, although not always, of the clergy) officially assigned to provide pastoral care at an institution, group, private… |
| closeness noun | /ˈkloʊs.nəs/ | The state of being close (all senses). |
| devastate verb | /ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/ | To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest. |
| dissolve verb | /dɪˈzɑlv/ | To terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding. |
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| let out verb | To release. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
| blow up verb | To explode or be destroyed by explosion. |
| catch up verb | To pick up suddenly. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What's the point of "I'm fine"?
- The thing you're probably stressing about right now.
- I wish I'd worked more.
- I wish I'd worked less.
- How many friends have you quietly lost this year?
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 | you've been carrying · you've been living |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | People who changed · person who mentioned · people who matter |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't been · You've known · you've never said |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 113 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'd, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: deathbed /ˈdɛθˌbɛd/, hundredth /ˈhʌndɹə(d)θ/, theirs /ðɛɚz/, sympathy /ˈsɪm.pəθ.i/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shelve /ʃɛlv/, erosion /ɪˈɹəʊʒən/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, obligation /ˌɑ.blɪˈɡeɪ.ʃn̩/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, explanatory /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, catastrophic /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/, beautifully /ˈbju.tɪ.fə.li/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
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 deathbed, grudge, prioritize.
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.