Shadowing Practice: 1.9K - Learn English Speaking with Video

There's this awkward middle ground right here that nobody really talks about, but you know that feeling that you just intuitively get where you're like,

oh, I've now moved on and I'm going to move into something else soon.

I really think that a lot of humanity goes through these transitions at the same time

and it feels weird to like not know what you want.

And sometimes it's okay to be in that messy middle for a bit.

Hi from me and Piper.

We were just chilling and hanging out and I've just been thinking about stuff and I figured, you know what?

Let's just whip out the camera and kind of record my thoughts.

I feel like I never really do that many chatty videos like this, like these casual chatty videos, and I'm trying to do a little bit more just

because I wanna be a little bit more spontaneous and have more fun, and I think these are fun,

but I always gravitate towards doing much more polished videos because honestly,

I love to like sit with my thoughts for several days and write a nice script because to me, I feel like that is genuinely more authentic to me

because then I can say exactly what's on my mind and I can say it correctly.

Or as sometimes when I just say things on my head in the moment, it might not actually be that accurate or that helpful, but I'm trying to be a little bit more open and honest and candid.

And, you know, I have hesitation with filming these videos sometimes because I think like, well, why would anyone care,

you know or why would someone be interested in these types of videos

and of course these types of videos get less views

and that's not the end of the world it doesn't matter

but I kind of forget how much I value these types of videos

and sometimes I can sit

and watch someone talk about their life their unfiltered thoughts their business their whatever

and I still gain a lot from that

and I'm really interested in hearing what they have to say it doesn't always have to be polished

and with a script and with a framework and all of that, even though I love those videos.

And that's what I feel.

That's where I feel like my strengths lie.

But first of all, how cute is Piper Girl right here?

She's always in the background of my videos.

In case you don't know, this is Piper.

She loves to sleep.

She's just a lady of leisure.

And she is the mascot of the Jill Skarin YouTube channel.

And she's just a gem.

She's a beautiful princess and deserves to be treated as such

but anyway something that i have just been thinking a lot about recently

and maybe because it's a mercury retrograde when i'm filming this

but honestly i've just been thinking about this for a

while is i feel like i have outgrown the chapter

that i'm in right now and i'm not sure what

that next chapter for me looks like and i feel like this is something that is definitely not exclusive to me.

I feel like there's a lot of people who might be experiencing this as well

and I also think that whether it's astrologically or something in the energy, I feel like a lot of people go through these transitions together

and they kind of experience these transitions at the same time.

But I'm in this state of my life where I'm not who I used to be anymore

but I'm also not where I want to be yet

and I also don't know who I want to be yet

but I think nobody really talks about the awkwardness of where you're not who you used to be

but you are not yet in that next chapter of your life and

when you transition there it's not like you go from this to this there's this awkward middle ground right here

that nobody really talks about and it's awkward it's uncomfortable, it's confusing, sometimes it's lonely.

And when you transition into this next chapter of your life, it's not like everything just comes together naturally.

There's this period of letting go and

slowly disconnecting and grieving the old you and the old version of your life

that has to happen before you even start going down the path of

that next one and before you even sometimes get clarity of

that next path

and for me like I'm not exactly sure what I want

for the future of my life yet like I genuinely don't know

and I've been thinking a lot about my life and my business

and like even the questions of like should I have a kid now

and all those things and I don't know I don't know

which direction I want to take my business in

but I know there's probably a change happening I don't know

what I want to focus on in my life right now

and that next version of me that I want to be

but I know that it's different than who I am now

and it's not that like I don't like who I am now

or I don't like my life now I I love who I am

and I love my life but you know that feeling

that you just intuitively get sometimes where you're like oh I've now moved on

and I'm going to move into something else soon that's what it feels like for me

and I feel like a lot of my friends are going through this transition as well

and i don't think it's random i really think

that a lot of humanity goes through these transitions at the same time

but we never really talk about them and we can feel really lonely

and uncomfortable through that process and it feels weird to like not know what you want

or to not have clear goals for the future and something

that i did for the first time this year in

so long as i didn't make a vision board

and you guys know like i'm super big on vision boards

and i have a whole video on it you can watch it here

and they work they're incredible manifestation tools

but for the first time in a long time i didn't make a vision board

because i didn't know what i wanted

and i also wanted to let myself figure it out

and have time to figure it out

and not be tied to this version of what i think

my life should look like back in january i wanted to

have freedom i wanted to have flexibility i wanted to let the universe

show me the way a little bit and delight me

and i think this mercury retrograde is kind of just like bringing up all these thoughts

and really bringing them to the surface

but you know you can feel in your soul

when one chapter of your life has ended or is about to end

and something else needs to begin soon you can feel it in your soul like

if you really truly slow down a bit tap into who you are tap into your feminine energy all of

that like you will feel it in your soul and the things

that used to excite you like some of those things they stop exciting you

so much and the goals that used to really motivate you

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and make you um full of passion and drive they start to feel not as interesting anymore.

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I think there's a lot of guilt around that

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because we think we should push through

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and we think oh my god this is the life that I wanted five years ago.

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I mean if I think about what I wanted for myself like five to eight years ago like I would be

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screaming so excited about the life that I have now.

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Like it's everything that I've wanted and I literally mean that

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and i love my life i'm so grateful for my life

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but that doesn't mean

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that things are meant to always stay the same like it's the nature of the universe things evolve

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and things grow and things change and there's seasons to life

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and chapters start and chapters end and this sounds so dramatic like i'm gonna make some crazy dramatic life-altering decision and

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I'm not.

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I just don't know exactly where I want to go.

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And I guess my point in saying all this is it's okay

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if you don't know all that

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and I'm at this point in my life where for the first time ever I don't have any expanders and basically

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if you don't know what expanders are it's a term coined

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by Lacey Phillips of to be magnetic basically an expander is someone who has what you have

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and it expands your perception of reality and so you think

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that you can have that too

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and it's really important i think to have expanders in your life

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because they show you what's possible and what you can have

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but when you don't have expanders it makes you feel a little bit lost

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and like you don't have direction

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and you know i talk about in a lot of my

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videos how important it is to know where you want to go

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so that you can drive the car in the right direction

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and make progress and that's true once you clearly have your defined goals

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but also i think it's so important to recognize

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that sometimes you don't know where you want to go and

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that is okay and i think sometimes we try to sit

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and think about it and try to figure figure it out

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and come up with an answer and i don't think we get an answer

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and i don't think we get clarity by sitting

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and thinking about it i think

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that we get clarity about where we want to go

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when we start taking action towards something

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and we start getting out in the world and trying new things

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and being around different people i think that we get clarity through doing

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and sometimes when you're in that phase of i know

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that next chapter needs to come

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but i don't know what it is i'm not sure how to bring it into my life sitting

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and over analyzing and thinking

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and maybe stressing about how you how you don't know what you want it doesn't actually do anything

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and it's okay to just like sit in the process sit in the state of the unknown

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and and kind of enjoy it honestly see it as fun a process where you get to try different things

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and see what lights you up

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and see what you naturally gravitate towards like i'm just trying to say

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that you're not gonna get that clarity in your life

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and in your next goals by sitting

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and stressing about it you're gonna eventually get clarity

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when the time is right when you have fun

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and try new things and put yourself out there and eventually

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that clarity will come but you also have to trust

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that like that next chapter and all that clarity and all of

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that like it's gonna come when it's meant to and i think

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that we are so like as human beings

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and me too like i i don't like this it's uncomfortable

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but when you're in that cocoon phase you know it's like you're not the caterpillar anymore

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but you're definitely not the butterfly

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you're in that cocoon phase and it's lonely and it's boring and you don't know what you're doing

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that cocoon phase is awkward and i think as human beings we try to resist it

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and we we want to know what's coming next

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and we want to know our timelines

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and we want to know what goals we're looking towards

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and we're trying to achieve and i guess like sometimes it's okay to just

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not know and figure it out as you go

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and sometimes it's okay to be in that messy middle for a bit

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and i don't just mean like for a day

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or a week i mean like for several months maybe even a year like i think sometimes we forget

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that we are just human beings at the end of the

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day we are souls having a human experience a physical experience

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and we're all just figuring it out and human beings are

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connected to mother earth and nature

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and i know this is getting a little woo woo

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but mother earth

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and nature works in seasons it is not always summer here

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in tennessee we get three months where it's completely dead all the trees lose their leaves

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and it looks gray and boring and it's cold and it's winter

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and there's not much going on but that is what is needed to bring

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that that next bloom and it's okay to sit in

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that messy middle and it's okay not to have concrete plants

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and i think it's important if nobody told you

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that that's what i wanted to tell you look at her cute paw anyway let me know in the comments

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if you relate or you feel like you're having this same experience too

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and again this sounds so dramatic

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but it's not dramatic i just feel change a brewing and i want to let myself lean into that

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and if you're on the same page like I'm in it with you

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and I'm in that messy middle too

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and I don't know what my future looks like I don't know exactly what I want

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and yeah there's just a lot of confusion there

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but I can feel it in my body

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that a new chapter is starting I don't know when

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but I know it is soon and maybe it does have to do with like kids or something I also see

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like I've been thinking a lot about my business and all this

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and I want to keep evolving it I want to keep growing it I love it

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but I'm also someone who loves change and like new adventures and

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so I could see myself maybe doing something different I don't

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know what I'm not saying I'm gonna like quit everything I'm definitely not gonna do that

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but like I don't know I'm not sure I kind of

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want to maybe talk a little bit more about business because this is just something that I've been so

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heavily learning for the past year and I've learned

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so much just having my own business so if that's what you want

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if like if that's what you're interested let me know

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because I might make some more videos on that

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and like making money and having your own online business

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and stuff if you guys would appreciate

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that content I also just feel like I have matured a lot in the past year

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and I just feel a little bit older

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but like in a good way I don't feel like old

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I just feel like I have evolved from some things even

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like for example like posting to social media like I don't

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see YouTube as much like social media even though it is

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but like Instagram and TikTok especially TikTok like I'm just not really

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that interested I feel like that's more for like the younger generation

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and I'm just like not as into it and no hate to

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that I don't care I just you know

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when you feel like you can just feel yourself kind of maturing

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and moving on and like I even used to think like, oh, you know, having kids and then you're older and you're, and I don't know.

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And now I feel like, oh, that sounds great.

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Like being older and being more mature and not identifying with like that twenties lifestyle.

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I mean, I just had my birthday.

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I turned 34 34 that's crazy because i don't feel 34 i feel like 30

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but i do feel like i have finally hit

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that point where i'm like i'm maturing and i'm ready to move on to something else and i'm

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i'm ready to even talk about different topics i'm i know i'm just rambling on here

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but that's why i write my scripts because I'm actually not that great of a yapper.

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Maybe that'll be my next chapter, being a yapper and being more confident in my voice and my lack of being polished.

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I don't know.

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We'll see probably in a few years, see where life takes me, but I hope you enjoyed this video.

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I hope you got some sort of value out of it.

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Sometimes I just want to yap to the camera

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and connect to you who's watching i know this isn't going to be you know those videos

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that attracts hundreds of thousands of viewers that's fine this is something

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that i want to bring more into my life it's like more community

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and more of that intimate connection between like me and my audience

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and me and really just everyone in my life

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but i don't know i think with the whole ai thing i think people are craving

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connection again and like real life anyways i will finally let you go now

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and i hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you next time in the next one.

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Bye.

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271 sentences

Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

If you’re looking to learn English with YouTube in a way that feels like a real chat, this video is perfect. The speaker’s casual, unscripted tone mimics everyday conversations—think chatting with a friend over coffee. It’s ideal for shadowspeak (or shadow speech), where you repeat phrases aloud to match rhythm and intonation. Practicing with this dialogue helps you get comfortable with "messy" middle ground moments—those times when you’re not sure what to say next, which is exactly how real life feels. You’ll build confidence in expressing unfiltered thoughts, a key skill for natural speaking.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

The video is packed with useful structures for daily talk. Here are 3 to focus on:

"I feel like I’ve outgrown the chapter I’m in": The phrase "feel like" softens statements, making them sound less direct—great for sharing personal thoughts. "Outgrown" is a vivid verb to describe moving past a phase.
"It’s not like you go from this to this": "It’s not like" is perfect for correcting assumptions. Use it to explain that things aren’t as simple as they seem.
"Nobody really talks about the awkwardness of where you’re not who you used to be": This complex sentence structure shows how to connect ideas (awkwardness + a situation). Notice how "where" links the feeling to a specific state.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Watch out for these tricky sounds when using the shadowing technique:

"Awkward": The "aw" sound (like "dog") followed by "kw" can trip you up. Practice saying it slowly: "awk-ward."
"Transition": The "sh" sound in the middle is easy to miss. Make sure it’s clear: "tran-si-tion."
"Intuitively": The "tu" here sounds like "choo." Say it as "in-tu-i-tively" to avoid mixing up the vowel sounds.

By shadowing this video, you’ll not only improve your pronunciation but also learn to speak with the natural flow of a native. It’s a fun way to turn casual chat into English speaking practice that sticks!

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	I've just been thinking · have just been thinking · I've been thinking
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to be · used to excite · used to really motivate
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've now moved · has ended · I've wanted
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be polished · be treated · are meant

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: 1.9K - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?