Shadowing Practice: who you are is up to you - Learn English Speaking with Video

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The question of who are you is one

that often stumps many of us because we're lying

and wait for an answer from the world or often from our circumstances without ever providing ourselves an answer.

I think that who you are is up to you.

And this is something I've been thinking about a lot recently

because I used to think that who we are is what we think.

But then I've recognized that our thoughts don't always contribute to who we are, nor are our thoughts are always a tale of exactly who we are.

Then I thought it was about feeling.

Because feeling always holds more truth than our thoughts.

Feeling reveals to us our secret truths in our subconscious.

It reveals to us how we actually think about ourselves.

But I'm recognizing that's not even the key to it either.

Because in an effort to change, I've been trying to change certain things within myself and trying not to fall into the same cycles.

But sometimes you feel like you want to fall into the same cycles.

The feeling of who you were previously holds on to who you were.

So it must not just be about feeling either.

It's about our choice.

It's about the answer we give to the question, not the answers we're provided.

We ask ourselves, who are we all the time?

And many of us don't really have answers for ourselves because we're not really choosing who we are.

We're allowing ourselves to be.

And I don't think that's a problem.

I think we have to allow ourselves to be in a way.

But in a lot of ways, who we allow ourselves to be is who we already have chosen to be.

And sometimes it's just about making a new choice.

And sometimes that choice is uncomfortable.

What I'm recognizing right now at this junction is that sometimes moving on from who you were previously is a discomfort.

It's not always going to feel like rainbows and sunshine.

the second you want to actually ferment your change

because a lot of time our ego is held on to who we were

so fervently that any amount of effort towards our change in any direction that's not backwards is going to feel uncomfortable.

But it's when we move within that discomfort that we actually move on from who we were.

And that's what it means to choose.

Because even in the times where you feel like, I can't really do this or this is just a part of who I am.

Even when you feel that so deeply, there's always going to be a part of you that wants to choose something different.

And sometimes it's about going against both your thoughts and feelings.

And choosing to identify with the awareness that wants to change.

I did this yesterday.

Yesterday, I was about to fold.

And then I was like, let me just write.

Let me just do something that actually contributes to me.

And the second, I kid you not, the second I sat down to start actually riding,

to start funneling my energy into a new pursuit, into a pursuit that actually complemented my change, that accommodated me.

I felt as if it had already been done in a lot of ways.

Of course, you know, you still got to keep that repetition up.

Don't get me wrong.

But I felt as though that change was real, that it was actually possible.

And I think it's hard for us to sometimes feel that way because we never really put ourselves within that feeling.

We talk about the circumstances and environments we inhabit all the time without recognizing that we are our own environment.

And the second we admit to ourselves that we inhabit ourselves more than anything, is the second we recognize that it's not really about anything that we possess,

including what contains us, but what we contain within ourselves.

And then giving yourself an opportunity to really choose.

And I'm going to talk about what really choosing is.

Because I've talked about it before in videos about what choosing is.

And to me right now, it's really about identifying what you want for yourself truly.

How do you want to be?

Who do you want to become?

Who do you want to be?

A lot of us wait for ourselves to be something.

but you already are something. And the change

that we're waiting for at most times is waiting on a shift in our perspective of ourselves enough to make it apparent, to allow our actions to follow suit.

But sometimes we have to show ourselves.

Sometimes we have to be the front runner.

Our thoughts and feelings aren't always going to push us.

Sometimes we have to push our thoughts and feelings.

And when I sat down to actually write and I was writing, I basically wrote about that.

And it was almost cathartic

because it was almost like the thing I was waiting on was right in front of me the whole time.

Many of us wait for us to feel certain ways before we start changing.

But being ready has never been a feeling.

It's always been a choice.

And the second we choose to actually be ready is the second that our feelings follow suit most of the time.

When you get out of your way enough to move past your thoughts and feelings, your thoughts and feelings will follow.

I think when we match ourselves to what we actually are aligned to doing, what we actually genuinely want for ourselves, then we start to actually feel it.

And when I say when we actually figure out what we want, I think deep down we all know what we want for ourselves.

When we follow the same cycles, we feel the same ways.

We either feel guilt, shame, etc., etc., negative feelings associated with us doing the same things over and over again that don't contribute to our actual development.

The part of us that doesn't feel good about that is the part of us that is seeking out change.

And even in our moments where we don't necessarily feel like we want to enact that change, those parts are still present within us.

And it's up to us in a real way to allow them to see the light of day.

If we don't empty our hands with who we were in the past, I mean with intention, I mean intentionally letting go, even when that letting go doesn't really feel like you're letting go of anything.

Pushing ourselves into the unknown, into places we have yet to be, into the moment we have yet to be in, because every moment is new.

Until we do that, we're grasping at straws, because the only thing that we're really holding on to is an idea.

And this idea in a lot of ways is the thing holding on to us.

But when we move past it and come into this unknown moment where nothing's really defined, we get a chance to define ourselves.

And it's our definition that we make presently.

It's about who we choose to be currently that really has an impact over our entire lives.

Because the second you actually make that choice, the second you actually say no,

even though I feel this way I'm going to act in accordance to what I genuinely want for myself

when you what you genuinely want for yourself will start to be there

because you will be there enough to actually seek it out many times the things

that we're waiting on are waiting for us to open our

eyes enough to see how we can go out there and get it

many of the things we're waiting on are waiting on us

to get out of our own way long enough to make it established

and not even to make certain things established

but to establish ourselves to say who you are it's up to you is to say

that it always has been you know we talk about our

environments we talk about our people we talk about our parents our familial

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or all of the things that have led to us right now

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and those things have to be acknowledged the past has to be acknowledged in order to be overcome

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because you can't hear what you don't acknowledge true That said, once we come into the moment with any type of presence,

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conscious awareness, awareness of being aware in the first place, then it's our responsibility.

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And even if you don't feel responsible, that is your opportunity.

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That is our chance at giving ourselves a chance.

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the second we're actually able to see the ways in

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which we are undone by all of our actions it's up

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to us no matter how we feel about it to choose what's best for us

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and that's not always the easy thing trust me i'm saying this

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because i'm like wow that really wasn't an easy thing to get out of

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that headspace to break the cycle but it's necessary and it's really about the faith you give to yourself.

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Sometimes just showing yourself something slightly different, putting yourself in that chair.

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Next time you're about to fall into a cycle, let me just do something, one thing for myself.

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Let me do one thing that actually is a representation of who I actually want to become in this moment.

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And all of a sudden you're there because you chose to be here.

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And that's all That's really it The choice we make

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The choices we make I'll say

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In life are not nearly as important As who we choose to be Because who we choose to be

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Is always reflected in our choices

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And the second we choose to be

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At least unknown in a moment The second we choose to be someone who actually cares about our own change, is the second we will make that step,

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even if that step doesn't necessarily feel like uncomfortable, even if it feels like what in the world am I doing?

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The only way to really figure out the answer to

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that question of what am I doing is by being present enough to see it.

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i'm sure you know what you're doing

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when you're doing the same comfortable familiar things

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that you've done in the past that have led you all around but nowhere but when we truly grasp it

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we recognize that when we choose ourselves and

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when i say ourselves i don't just mean what we think

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or what we feel but our awareness of thinking and feeling when we choose that

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then we'll start moving in accordance to things that actually benefit us.

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Because no matter what, you're aware of how you feel and what you think.

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And if your thoughts impact the way you feel, then your feelings impact what you're aware of.

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So it's about sort of getting at yourself at a baseline

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and deciding for yourself who you want to show up each moment.

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And it's not always going to be an easy task, but it's a task we all need to undertake truly.

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I've seen so many comments about overcoming things like lust, overcoming things like shame, guilt, overcoming things like ourselves.

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But there is no past self to overcome, nor is there a future self to achieve, because everything that we ever are and will be is right now.

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And it never will be here until we're here enough to establish it.

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So it's really about our presence.

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It's really about us being present enough to choose.

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It's really about us choosing to be present.

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All in all, it's about us giving ourselves to the moment, giving ourselves to the unknown,

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giving ourselves to the discomfort at times, so we can move past it.

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Many of us shy away from certain feelings, and I talked about this in the last video.

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The only way to really overcome feelings is to allow them to flow through you.

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And if discomfort's a feeling we have when confronting our change, then we have to allow that to flow too.

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Otherwise, we're never going to really arrive at our change.

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All that to say it's possible.

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All that to say you can.

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All that to say it's waiting on you.

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Not anyone else, not anything in the external world.

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Many of us want to wait for certain times.

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We want to give ourselves certain deadlines.

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But those deadlines don't really exist because time doesn't exist.

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But growth does.

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And our growth is waiting on us to be present enough to grow.

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Present enough to choose the things that actually lead to our development.

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Present enough to plant the seeds that will later grow into who we currently are.

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All that to say, if you made it this far in the video, thank you.

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If you didn't, thank you anyway.

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I really do hope you guys are taking care of yourself and doing what you can with what you have.

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There's truly a lot on the way, but there's always a lot already here.

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Make sure you're appreciating the things that are currently within your vicinity, yourself included.

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58 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “who you are is up to you”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: ourselves, feeling, choose, waiting, moment. This video has 164 sentences and 2221 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:51. The speaker talks at a natural 160 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 91% 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
discomfort noun	/dɪsˈkʌmfɚt/	Mental or bodily distress.
inhabit verb	/ɪnˈhæbɪt/	To live or reside in.
circumstance noun	/ˈsɝ.kəmˌstæns/	Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event.
grasp verb	/ɡɹæsp/	To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.
cathartic adjective	/kəˈθɑɹtɪk/	Purgative; inducing mental or physical catharsis.
familial adjective	/fəˈmɪljəl/	Of or pertaining to a human family.
ferment verb	/fɚˈmɛnt/	To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
fervently adverb	/ˈfɝvəntli/	In a fervent manner.
funnel noun	/ˈfʌnəl/	A utensil in the shape of an inverted hollow cone terminating in a narrow pipe, for channeling liquids or granular material; typically used when transferring…
headspace noun	/ˈhɛdspeɪs/	The space between the top of the contents of a container (such as a jar) and its seal (such as a lid).
repetition noun	/ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/	The act or an instance of repeating or being repeated.
subconscious adjective	/sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/	Occuring in the part of our mind that we are not normally aware of.
undo verb	/ʌnˈduː/	To reverse the effects of an action.
align verb	/əˈlaɪn/	To form a line; to fall into line.
baseline noun	/ˈbeɪslaɪn/	A line that is a base for measurement or for construction.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
figure out verb	To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.
show up verb	To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We ask ourselves, who are we all the time?
We're allowing ourselves to be.
How do you want to be?
Who do you want to become?
Who do you want to be?

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 been thinking · I've been trying
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've recognized · have chosen · I've talked
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is held · been done · are aligned

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, subconscious /sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, junction /ˈd͡ʒʌŋkʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, vicinity /vəˈsɪnəti/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, accommodate /əˈkɑməˌdeɪt/

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 discomfort, inhabit, circumstance.

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: who you are is up to you - Learn English Speaking with Video

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