Shadowing Practice: romanticize your life - Learn English Speaking with Video

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I think one of the most underrated skills in life is learning how to romanticize it.

And I don't even mean like living in denial or pretending that everything is perfect.

I mean choosing to see your life as something worth savoring, something that is worth celebrating, even in its smallest details.

Because the truth is, most of our lives are not going to be filled with this huge movie -like moments.

We won't always be traveling to this breathtaking destination or living through an Instagram highlight reel.

Most days are going to look pretty much ordinary waking up commuting working studying sleeping after filming

this video I'll probably just go edit maybe scroll through some I don't know Instagram reels

or TikTok videos and go to bed and just like

that the day might end just very ordinarily so

if you just wait for the big moments to feel alive

you might just spend your whole life pretty much asleep

but here's where romanticizing your life changes everything just imagine instead of rushing through your morning coffee

you just kind of sit with it you relax a little bit you kind of feel the whole smell

or scent of the coffee filling up the room, you notice the warmth of the cup,

the way it kind of feels like a soft preparation before you go out into the chaos.

Or instead of seeing your walk home as something boring, you kind of notice the evening air, feel the soft breeze.

Those tiny details are what make life feel more meaningful.

I'm not gonna lie, I used to think that it was a bit silly.

I pretty much used to think that life had to be grand in order to be meaningful, but the older I get,

the more I realize that meaning is actually built in the smallest, most ordinary things.

The way your favorite song hits a little bit differently at night.

The comfort of talking with a friend at 3am about nothing and everything at once.

Romanticizing your life doesn't mean ignoring pains or pretending your struggles don't exist.

I think it's about giving yourself permission to slow down a little bit

and you know see beauty where you usually overlook it and just to find gratitude in things you call normal or mundane.

I just got back from a trip in Japan and

while I was there I rented a car

and went to this place called Kamikochi which is like in Nagano prefecture

and that place was

so beautiful you know seeing the mountain view hearing the water

sound seeing all these people enjoy themselves kind of chilling by

the lake just spending a good time with their families and

that was just so healing I took a walk in the trail

and you know everything about it was so perfect but

because the trip is done and I just got back

and I'm realizing the things

that I'm thinking about more are the small moments you know like

when I'm driving seeing the mountain view seeing the pretty colors of the skies

and seeing the sunset stopping by the rest area buying some snacks, seeing the views.

The whole journey just felt so surreal.

I think it was a good break for me

because I was kind of overwhelmed with everything that was going on around me,

the trends changing, and I was just worried about my future and everything.

So I needed something to just kind of distract me or just run away to.

And Japan was the perfect place.

I learned how to romanticize my life again.

I started noticing all the small things that I took for granted,

how there's so much more things out there in life than just kind of seeing trends

and scrolling through social media and

when you think about it little things are all

we really have control over the trends will change the world

will keep moving faster the big moments will always come and go

but choosing to make your ordinary moments feel extraordinary

that's in your hands every day it depends on how you see things

or how you perceive

so maybe that's the shift we need stop waiting for the next big thing

and you know just realizing what's already happening around us all those peaceful moments

that you can have when you stop by the local cafe and you know read a book, finding beauty in small, imperfect, and just quiet moments.

I think that's the skill that's underrated.

At the end of the day, life is already happening in the smallest, simplest ways that you know you're living right now.

Having banters with your friends, the quiet walk home, or having coffee in your hands.

And when you learn to romanticize those things, you stop living for someday.

You start living for today.

And maybe that's the real secret.

Life doesn't have to be extraordinary to be beautiful.

It already is.

That's something that I really wanted to talk about today.

I just got back from the trip

and I'm just kind of unpacking everything physically and emotionally

and the things that I learned the things that I felt

while I was there in Japan

I just kind of learned to relearn everything to slow down a little bit to stop comparing with everyone

and kind of be at my own pace

and seeing life in a more romantic way one of my favorite memories

that I have there was I went to this firework festival

and a lot of people came people brought snacks they brought beers and you know they started enjoying things with their family,

with their partner, with their friends and it was just so beautiful.

The whole two hours I was just kind of mesmerized by these like fireworks

and even though it was loud because of the fireworks,

I found so much peace in that moment because it helped me realize how much I was kind of missing out on.

The things that I was just taking for granted, the things that I wasn't really grateful for, the things that I forgot about,

it kind of reminded me of how beautiful life is and how beautiful small moments can be.

So I know it's tough, I know everything is like very overwhelming nowadays everything is

so quick but even in the chaos i hope you find time to take a step back

and see the beauty in the small moments

and yeah that's all i really have to say

and i hope you guys are doing well wherever you are and i'll see you guys next time peace

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “romanticize your life”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: moment, seeing, beautiful. This video has 87 sentences and 1114 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:57. The speaker talks fast, about 225 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
ordinary adjective	/ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/	Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
extraordinary adjective	/ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/	Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual.
pretend verb	/pɹəˈtɛnd/	To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
chaos noun	/ˈkeɪˌɑs/	The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
meaningful adjective	/ˈmiː.nɪŋ.fl̩/	Having meaning, significant.
snack noun	/snæk/	A light meal.
scroll noun	/skɹoʊl/	A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll.
reel verb	/ˈɹiːl/	To wind on a reel.
underrated adjective	/ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/	Not given enough recognition for its quality.
ignore verb	/ɪɡˈnɔː/	To deliberately not listen or pay attention to.
rush verb	/ɹʌʃ/	To hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully.
compare verb	/kəmˈpɛɚ/	To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
trail noun	/tɹeɪl/	The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the…
romantic adjective	/ɹoʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/	Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
slow down verb		To decelerate.
fill up verb		To make (something) completely full.
get back verb		Return to where one came from.
live through verb		To survive a difficult period or event
step back verb	/stɛp ˈbæk/	To stop what one is doing and evaluate the current situation.
wake up verb	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	To stop sleeping; to awake.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to think
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be filled · is actually built
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	started noticing · keep moving · stop waiting
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	the most underrated · its smallest · the smallest

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: warmth /wɔɹmθ/, breathtaking /ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rush /ɹʌʃ/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/
Long words — get the stress right: ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, underrated /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/

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 ordinary, skill, extraordinary.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: romanticize your life - Learn English Speaking with Video

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