Shadowing Practice: What years of extreme isolation have done to me - Learn English Speaking with Video
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For those of you who don't know me,
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my name is Jett, and I've spent the past five to six years of my life in extreme isolation and deep solitude.
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And I'm not using those phrases lightly.
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I did not go to a single dance in school.
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I didn't go to graduation.
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I didn't hang out with a single friend for really after my sophomore year,
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really once COVID hit.
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In college, I had no friends.
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I spent all my time alone, mainly reading books or, you know, just on my phone.
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And for the past seven months of my life,
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I've lived in this basement and I get on an average day zero interaction with other people.
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and obviously there are psychological implications that this has left on me
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and I don't consider myself to be a particularly non-self-aware individual I understand
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that this is not healthy I understand that you know especially during your youth
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when there's neuroplasticity that you need to be
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you know finding relationships and socializing i'm not denying any of these things nor am i glorifying
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or glamorizing in any sense isolation
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because you know it's it has caused a lot of negative
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parts of my life it's caused me to have deep depression
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it's caused me to have suicidal ideation for much of my life
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and you know it's a burden
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that i don't think a lot of people can carry to the extent
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that i have and i'm not saying that in any sense of pride or you know superiority
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um truly this has been a a learning journey for me now there are also many pros to this as well
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but i think i'll start with the cons so first off i realize
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that um i'm very disconnected from the average person
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when i do go out and meet people
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which is rare i tend to have a sort of distance
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that I can sensibly feel where I just kind of lack the natural social skills of being able to connect with somebody.
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I sometimes have grown apathetic to a lot of not just events that are going on in the world,
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but like other people's issues because they seem insignificant compared to my own.
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I have spent so much time analyzing and so little time executing
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and actually taking action that I feel like I'm just a spectator of a lot of people.
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Specifically in high school, it was very difficult when I was what a lot of people would call the popular loner,
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meaning no one was a lot of people knew who i was
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but i didn't get invited to anything as a matter of
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fact i only ever got invited to one party in high school
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and i got disinvited before the party even started
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so you know i i was like an acquaintance to a lot
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but friends a friend to none
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and i think this kind of started to lead to me building a resentment towards other people
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even though a lot of it was self-inflicted.
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I would say most of it was self-inflicted, but one thing that I've never been,
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I've never had a very high threshold for putting up with people being fake or BS, or when I can tell that somebody is being performative
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because they are a social climber or they're trying to win public favor.
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These things have never settled well with me
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in a way where i wasn't willing to sacrifice who i was just to appease somebody
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and there were many times where i also would i remember like
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when i was in high school they're like a few times where people would ask for my opinion on something
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and i would give the most like raw unfiltered version of what i thought
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which i don't really think is a commendable trait back then i thought it was what was right like
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if you're just being really honest then you know
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if the truth destroys somebody let them be destroyed
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but that's really not um i don't think that's ethical
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or moral now
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that i'm older sometimes you just just talk a little bit less um i realize this now
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and i still have a natural tendency to just kind of tell people how i feel
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and this hasn't played well for me in social circles i have a i i truly believe
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that there is a part of me
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that is like trauma is i feel like it's not the right word like
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because trauma is like dramatic but there are like long-term psychological implications
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that this has had on me many of which i can't even tell
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but for example sometimes now when i go
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and i meet you know a lot of people
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or I go in a crowded space I get a little bit anxious I was not like
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that growing up at all and it's because
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when it's basically turned into a foreign environment any environment where
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there are a lot of people it's difficult for me to
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comprehend maybe you could tell by this video I tend to
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be humbly like decent at talking I understand how to converse with people
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and I can sort of put on a facade in, in, in the sense that like, I know how to schmooze my way in conversations,
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but I'm certainly not comfortable while I'm doing it.
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I, I can make it so that I'm not awkward, but I'm once again, I,
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I feel internally anxious and this isn't something that I feel like somebody should carry into their,
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you know, mid to late twenties, you know, I'm 22 right now, but you know, I'm going to blink my eyes and tomorrow I'll be,
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you know, 30, 35.
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And it's like, I don't really know how to talk to people that much.
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Um, in terms of, uh, connection with the desire to connect, like, sure.
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I can have a conversation with you, but it's a little bit harder for me to, you know, rub people in the way of like, Hey, let's be friends with this guy.
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And like, let's hang out with this guy long-term.
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These things have always been difficult for me.
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I have, most of my friends are characters in, in novels that I read.
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And I can relate to people that I haven't gone through anything similar in my life.
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And that's, what's so weird, but I like that there's authenticity to characters
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that I just simply don't get with people in real life I know what a character is truly thinking or feeling
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but with people in real life I feel like it's my
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job to take off their mask by the way this video
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is not like a pity video at all I don't like
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you shouldn't feel bad for me my like I was saying before this stuff is mainly self-inflicted
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but there are also many pros that have come with it.
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I think the best thing is my ability to analyze situations and people.
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I have like a weird knack.
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I don't know if it's natural to everybody or not, but I can just sort of tell how people feel about
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other people based off of how they react to each other
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and how they interact with each other and how they respond even when they're not being addressed directly.
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I can just kind of pick up on these cues because I've always been the bystander.
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You know, when I was in high school, I saw a lot of, I saw more stuff through social media than real life.
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You know, like the Instagram pictures, that's where I'd find out about what was going on in someone's life.
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I would see Snapchat stories where people would be doing stuff at prom.
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Meanwhile, you know, I was, you know, trying to figure out my life and who I was as a person kind of going through, I mean, it sounds corny, but an existential crisis from, you know, rather a younger age.
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I've, I've always tried to make sense of the world around me.
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And the reason that this is, I feel like mainly is because I, maybe I have a natural predisposition to it,
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but I also think it's because when you spend so much time alone, you are forced to think a lot.
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And the number one thing that you start to think of is the deeper questions like, why am I here?
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Who am I really?
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What's my purpose or meaning?
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These are the questions that I, and I still haven't been able to answer them.
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And that's what drives me crazy because I'd sort of hyper fixate on these things, trying to make sense of the world around me, like I was saying before.
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And I have this sort of inability to do it.
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I have inability to connect with my peers as well
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and i don't know if that's just something that's never going to be healed
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if that's just something that's who i am or you know if over time i can fix that
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but one thing that i've realized is that being alone has become
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so addicting i've there's a sense of serenity and the fact
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that i don't have any obligations socially i don't have to
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go out it's not like people are asking me to hang out
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because i don't really have that many friends
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or you know all my close friends live in different states
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so it's not like we can just hang out um
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but yeah it's become addicting and that's very dangerous
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because it's like why would i ever feel the need to go outside
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when i can just stay inside
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and you know be in a controlled environment be relaxed uh spend time doing something
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that i know i'm gonna like which is like reading
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or making videos as opposed to being in a situation where
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it's like hey i don't know know who I'm going to meet, if I'm going to like these people, if I'm going to find myself in a weird situation, if I'm going to get anxious, you know, it's sort of,
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there's a large factor of the unknown when you go out,
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you know, and I think people that have grown up where they've just always been social and they've always been able to,
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you know, go out and do stuff with other people, they they have a really good skill where they can adapt very quickly to to different things
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that happen they can kind of roll with the punches they can go with the flow
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that just comes with the experience of doing stuff
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which i don't have but one thing that is interesting about me
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which i'll say is i'll do things despite how i feel
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so you know if something's going to make me feel really bad
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or shameful or whatever if i think it needs to be done i'll still do it um
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but i'll feel the emotions very deeply regardless you know and these are things that i feel like the average person
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that you know goes out
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or has a friend group like they they they're much better off than i am
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but once again i think what this has a a really large pro
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and why in a lot of my videos i i kind of like do say
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that i enjoy the solitude which is true i do enjoy the solitude
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but it's just because you find out who you are
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when you spend so much time alone
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when you are forced to think in your own head
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when you don't have external influence that's a really big thing
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when you don't have like a friend group of copy
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and paste people you're not also not going to become a copy
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and paste when i have any material
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that i want from my fingertips whether that's to check out a book at the library
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or to go online whatever it is i can find what i'm actually interested in based off of
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you know my ability to just select from whatever i i have like true uh desires for
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because i'm not being conditioned by like all this other stuff
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and so yeah i think
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that i have a much greater understanding of who i am in
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that sense than most people but part of who you are is also putting yourself in situations or experiences that are,
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you know, testing you and that I lack in.
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So there are many people that know
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that aspect of themselves more like are they really strong are
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their morals have they been put to the test you know
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social media has has changed a lot for me in
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that sense like for example and i truly do not say this to brag
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but you know i started doing social media about no pun intended six seven months ago um
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and and i i kind of i've done well for myself
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and i've had a bunch of brand deals i've had around
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like a hundred thousand dollars worth of you know various deals happen
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which i know that might sound crazy
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but i have over a million followers on all platforms combined
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and i gained that in that short amount of time
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so it's really not that far-fetched um
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and i i truly have i mean i've been offered over a hundred thousand
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and i haven't accepted a single dollar and once again i'm not saying
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that to brag
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but i'm saying it to to be like you know i
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i've really like i've been tested i've been given the opportunity
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and there's also many other opportunities
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that i've been given i've been given opportunities where i could
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just like hate on other people like i get i have a lot of like you know accounts of people
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that constantly are hating on me whatever and i've been
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and i could eat very easily clap back at these people
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and i haven't done it um because i'm you know focused on myself
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and stuff like that and so i've been put in these situations
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but i haven't been been put in a lot of social situations where you know i'm being tested on
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that front but
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all in all i think solitude is something
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that is inherently good i think you know in the bible
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like jesus would go to the bottom of the boat he would go to the top of the mountain
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so he could spend time alone with god and you know
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that that's kind of been something that that's in my mind
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when i spent all this time alone however uh undeniably as
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my father always says community is very important you need to be connecting with other people that's just human nature
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and that's we crave connections as humans and so
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when you avoid yourself of it for so long like i have to such a high degree
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you you honestly you create a bunch of blind spots for things
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that you don't even know
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that you're really bad at i'm sure i'm bad at a lot of things
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but yeah my freshman year of college i had a roommate
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and we in our beds were about like i think it was like two
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and a half three feet apart it was the smallest legal room
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that uh two beds could be in for like a college dorm and it was like the experience was weird.
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I, I was me and my roommate, we were like cordial with one another and like, we didn't dislike each other, but there really wasn't anything beyond that.
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Like we just were like, we knew what it was.
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Like we were just like, okay, we're going to respect each other.
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And then, but we have different interests, different things.
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But that was a, that was an interesting experience in the sense
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that I had to pretty much just accept
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that he was going to have his like weird things that weren't going to annoy me.
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And I'm sure he had to accept the weird things that I was doing too, but it was hard because now I was, I couldn't be alone.
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Like I used to be, but like I was, I was in the presence of somebody else, but I was still alone.
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Does that make sense?
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Like you can be in a room full of people, but still be very lonely.
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And so that's how I felt there.
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And that, that's what really sucked because I couldn't do like, there's some stuff you just can't do when other people are in your presence.
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Like you can't fully relaxed you can't do things without feeling like you're going to be judged you know
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and yeah that just sort of over time
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that was like a weird experience but yeah
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and then since then i haven't had a um many roommates i was i've couch surfed with my friend
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and that was cool and all
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but once again all the time i i lack the connection
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and so that's where i really feel alone and
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so i still consider a lot of you know isolation i think
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that you need to find a healthy balance i think you
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need to spend a lot of time by yourself especially
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when you're young so you can figure out who you are
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and then build from there but you also need some type of you know connection
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because we created
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that as humans anyways i'm this video is getting along a little bit long-winded thank you guys for watching
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “What years of extreme isolation have done to me”. This video has 226 sentences and 2960 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:23. The speaker talks fast, about 181 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| solitude noun | /ˈsɑlɪˌtud/ | Aloneness; the state of being alone, solitary, or by oneself. |
| inflict verb | /ɪnˈflɪkt/ | To thrust upon; to impose. |
| roommate noun | /ˈɹu(m)ˌmeɪt/ | A person with whom one shares a room, as in a dormitory, barracks, rooming house, or apartment. |
| isolation noun | /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/ | The state of being isolated, detached, or separated; the state of being away from other people. |
| anxious adjective | /ˈæŋkʃəs/ | Nervous and worried. |
| brag verb | /bɹæɡ/ | To boast; to talk with excessive pride about what one has, is able to do, or has done; often as an attempt to popularize oneself. |
| implication noun | /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/ | The act of implicating. |
| addict noun | /ˈæd.ɪkt/ | A person who is addicted, especially to a harmful drug. |
| analyze verb | /ˈæn.əˌlaɪz/ | To subject to analysis. |
| pasta noun | /ˈpɑ.stə/ | Dough made from wheat and water and sometimes mixed with egg and formed into various shapes; often sold in dried form and typically boiled for eating. |
| inability noun | /ˌɪnəˈbɪlɪti/ | Lack of the ability to do something; incapability. |
| trauma noun | /ˈtɹɔm.ə/ | Any injury to the body of a living thing. |
| apathetic adjective | /ˌæpəˈθɛtɪk/ | Void of feeling; not susceptible of deep emotion. |
| appease verb | /əˈpiːz/ | To make quiet; to calm; to reduce (something) to a state of peace; to dispel (anger, hatred, etc.). |
| bystander noun | /ˈbaɪˌstænd.ə(ɹ)/ | A person who, although present at some event, does not take part in it; an observer, witness, or spectator. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| get along verb | To interact or coexist well, without argument or trouble. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
| have over verb | To host (a visiting guest) at one's house. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I didn't go to graduation.
- Who am I really?
- What's my purpose or meaning?
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 | I've spent · I've lived · has left |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be destroyed · being addressed · are forced |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | like which is · solitude which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 109 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: apathetic /ˌæpəˈθɛtɪk/, authenticity /ɑθɛnˈtɪsɪti/, threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/, ethical /ˈɛθɪkəl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, existential /ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃl̩/, ideation /ˌaɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, inability /ˌɪnəˈbɪlɪti/, apathetic /ˌæpəˈθɛtɪk/, commendable /kəˈmɛndəbəl/
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 solitude, inflict, roommate.
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.