Shadowing Practice: Scared of getting older... - Learn English Speaking with Video

It's been a while since we talked.

Like, I mean, really talked.

For those of you who don't know me, my name's Isaac.

I'm 21.

I'm from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

And I'm scared to get older.

Or at least sometimes.

Maybe a lot of times.

Let me just explain how I think about life.

And I know this is going deep really quick, but look, we ain't got much time.

So literally and figuratively, I think of life in this way, right?

You're a kid and then you're a teenager and then you're an adult, right?

And along the way, you're trying to figure out what is your thing, right?

Your purpose, finding meaning in your life.

What are the things that you enjoy?

What are the things that you're striving towards, your goals, your aspirations, finding success in some way? and so along the way,

you know, finding meaning through maybe a spouse or marriage or

and kids and all that kind of thing and so you're in this stage of, you know, especially in teens, young adults, you feel like you're in the in -between, right?

You know, in high school and when you're a kid, nothing's really too much expected of you, right?

Like, it's not a big deal that you don't know what you're doing with your life.

You feel like you're lost.

Of course you feel like you're lost.

If you know what you're doing, then you're the outlier.

But as you get older,

especially young adulthood, and you feel like you haven't gotten to where you want to be

and you're scared you'll never get there.

You're scared that you'll wake up one day and you'll be 30

and you've never accomplished anything or you'll be 40 and you've never accomplished anything and you've wasted the years you have.

What people talk about, you know, what's insane to me.

I hate when people do this.

I hate it when people say, Oh man, you know, enjoy your, you know, enjoy your twenties.

Those are the best years you'll ever have.

Or like, those are the best years of your life or, you know, like things like that, because that makes me feel like, well, I'm not happy.

I'm struggling.

And you're telling me this is the best it's going to get.

That's the, that's all you could say. That blows my mind.

So I can't believe that.

And I can't believe that I can't believe that the summit, that there is a summit, right?

We think, at least in my mind, I think I've always wanted to get to a place

or a certain specific goal where certain things measure up and they line up.

And for at least one moment in time where I have, you know, I'm financially set and I'm relationally set and I'm,

you know, emotionally set.

And all these things align and then I've made it.

I've won.

I've done it.

I've accomplished what I wanted to do.

And I can be at peace.

But that doesn't exist.

I have to believe it doesn't exist.

Everything I watch, every person I talk to that has accomplished what they wanted to accomplish, they're still hungrier.

They're still looking for approval.

They're still looking for love.

They're still looking for meaning.

They're still looking for purpose.

So cornering myself off into believing

that I need to get to a certain place at a certain time

and accomplish a certain thing in order for me to be happy or be fulfilled or be

be accomplished I think it's a sham I think it's a

complete lie along the way my journey over the last two

years at least with this ministry I set numerous goals of like stats

and and and and all you know amount of followers

or subscribers and goals and aspirations I wanted to get to And each time I would pass one of those milestones,

I would look back and think back and remember myself before saying, if I could only get here, then I would be satisfied.

Then I would be happy.

Then I would be fulfilled.

But I got to that place, and then all of a sudden that didn't look too hot.

Actually, honestly, the fact that I got there was a failure in itself because I should have got there sooner.

And that applies to a lot of aspects of my life.

I think of, oh, when I get to this spot, then I'll be fulfilled.

And then I get there and then I take it as a negative because it took me too long to get there.

Because I should be further along than I am.

And so you torture yourself because you have these expectations that are...

You have expectations, but on top of those expectations is your really life motivation it's connected to

that so if your expectations aren't met then your life motivation is just shriveled up.

Your meaning, your sense of purpose, your sense of peace is all connected to that.

Every day, every day that I don't feel like I've made a dent,

like into something more, something meaningful,

something that has legacy to it,

Every day that I haven't done that, I feel angry.

I feel frustrated.

I feel discouraged.

And so I feel like in some ways, every day I wake up with that motivation to do it,

to make it, to tap into that more that God would have for me.

But along the way, things pop up.

Like my own desire to find love and acceptance from other people and to find identity, right?

As long as I find my identity in my productivity,

I'll never find peace, right? because I'll never be productive enough to give myself license to let go.

Because it will never be enough.

It will never be enough.

And I think God designed it that way.

He designed it that we can wake up early.

We can, you know, grind and we can rise and grind or whatever the heck.

We can do all that.

We can strive.

We can even make an impact.

But at the end of the day, if our identity is disconnected from the one who created us,

we will always be disconnected from who we truly are in Christ.

and so as long as I find my identity in in being

that kind of person that makes an impact or find

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that identity in in in being somebody that is is successful

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or or somebody that is productive or somebody that is smart

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or or liked or loved as long as I find my identity in

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that I will always be disconnected from who I truly am and I will never find the peace that passes all understanding.

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And so what I'm trying to do, and I know this is just a weird big therapy session, I guess, but you need one of those every once in a while.

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What I'm trying to do, what I'm trying to do is tap into my identity in Christ,

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step into that, letting go of the pressure to perform in order to gain God's love,

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but rather as I step into my identity, I want my productivity and my faithfulness to God's work,

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the work that he's given me to be an outflowing of his love.

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And I know I've talked about this before.

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And at certain points in my life, I felt like that was the moment.

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That's the one I like.

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I've made it.

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I get it now.

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I can do it.

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Yeah.

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But then I just go back to where I was before.

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Same mentality, same mindset, same anxieties and discouragements all fueled by this concept that,

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that, that I'm not where I'm supposed to be.

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And that feeds into, you know, every year I feel like I'm running out of time and,

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and look, I don't want to live this way.

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I don't think anybody wants to live this way.

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I love that God, I'm thankful that God has given me a desire for more,

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for more of him and what he would have for me and, you know, and all that.

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But I'm also, I need to be aware and I'm, and for those of you who are like this,

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you need to be aware that you need to fight off the,

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the things that will steal your joy and things that will take this identity in Christ and they'll pull it,

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pull it to things that shouldn't be like identity in money, how much you're making, or your status, or how much you're working,

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or how busy you are.

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All these things are going to distract you from the point of all this.

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I could wake up every day and work my butt off for God.

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But where is my relationship with God?

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Where is my identity in God?

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Because it seems like, it seems like sometimes,

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were the people that Tony Miano gave this example once were the people

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that or the the young man that goes to the the door of somebody

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and knocks on the door and you know older guy answers it

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and and the young man asked

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if I mow your lawn can I be your son and

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that sounds crazy guys like no you can't be my son if you just mow my lawn.

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That doesn't make any sense.

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But if that, you know, that older guy first adopts that young man as his son,

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then the outflowing of that will be, could be mowing his father's lawn.

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And so we're getting this out of order here.

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We're looking for more.

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We're looking for purpose.

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We're looking for identity.

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We're looking for love, we're looking for these core, like existential, fundamental aspects to our human nature.

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And yet we abandon the one thing that is free.

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A love, acceptance, a peace, so glorious as is available to us can only be a gift.

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We can never earn it.

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but it's not good enough for us.

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We, we, we want to earn it.

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We want to work for it.

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We want to find it in other things, but it always leaves us empty.

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It always leaves us discouraged.

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It always leaves us asking, is this all there is?

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When you've got to the peak of where you wanted to go, when you've accomplished the things you wanted to accomplish, will it be enough for you?

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If If you're scared of getting older, my question for you would be, where is your foundation?

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Is it in God's sovereignty over your life?

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Or is it in your own self -reliance on doing enough,

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earning enough, succeeding enough, achieving enough to gain God's love, to gain other people's love, to gain meaning,

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to gain purpose? us where is your foundation that's pretty much

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all I have to say I know this is kind of weird video

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if you sat through the whole thing thanks I love you guys I really do

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and I really am thankful for a platform

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that I can just get on

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and talk I mean yeah we're all working we're all trying

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to figure this out you know it takes it takes time takes a lifetime

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and the more honest

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and open we can be about what we're going through about what we're feeling especially with the people around us

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that can only be beneficial it can only be beneficial thanks for watching guys i'll see you next time god bless

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268 sentences

What You'll Learn from This Video

This clip is perfect for english speaking practice—it helps you build two key skills. First, expressing complex emotions like fear and uncertainty in a natural, conversational way. The speaker shares personal thoughts on aging, using phrases like "I'm scared to get older" and "you feel like you're in the in-between" that you can mirror in your own talks. Second, structuring a story with flow: he starts with an introduction, dives into his feelings, and challenges common ideas, which teaches you how to organize your thoughts when speaking. These skills are great for learn english with videos because they’re real, relatable, and practical.

Listen For These Sounds

Pay attention to connected speech and reductions that make the dialogue sound natural. For example, "I mean, really talked" becomes "I mean, really talked" with a soft link between "mean" and "really." He also shortens "you're" to "you're" (but in fast speech, it might sound like "yer") and "don't know" to "don't know" with a quick "n" sound. Notice how "ain't got much time" flows smoothly—"ain't got" links together, making it sound like "ain'tgot." These small details are key to improving your pronunciation and sounding more like a native.

Say It Like a Native: Use the Shadowing Technique

Try the shadowing technique (also called shadowspeaks) with this video! Pause after each sentence, then repeat it immediately, copying the speaker’s rhythm and stress. He stresses words like "scared," "meaning," and "wasted" to emphasize his emotions—make sure you do too. Notice how he slows down when talking about deep thoughts ("I think of life in this way, right?") and speeds up when sharing frustration ("That blows my mind"). Mimicking this rhythm will make your speech sound more natural and engaging. Practice daily, and you’ll soon see progress in your english speaking practice—you’ve got this!

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't gotten · you've never accomplished · I've always wanted
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be fulfilled · be accomplished · would be satisfied
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should have · should be · shouldn't be
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	the best

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: Scared of getting older... - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What You'll Learn from This Video

Listen For These Sounds

Say It Like a Native: Use the Shadowing Technique

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?