Shadowing Practice: Why I Choose to Live a "Boring" Life - Learn English Speaking with Video

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My name is Sophie and I live on the island of Maui.
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The perfect place to go surfing, hiking, go to the beach every day.
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And that's exactly how I should be spending my time, right?
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Actually, my day-to-day looks quite different.
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I'm a proud homebody, and it brings me
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so much joy to have a whole day to get lost in a good book, tend to my little patio garden,
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or dive into one of my hobbies.
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Every day looks more or less the same.
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Nevertheless, it's full of meaning and made of little moments of happiness.
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importantly, this ordinary boring life is what fulfills me.
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I mean, I'm the first to admit that I feel
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so blessed to live in this beautiful place and I can go see the ocean whenever I want to, but for the majority of us,
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including myself, we spend a lot of our times at home in some kind of a routine,
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whether it's eating, sleeping or working and I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the ordinary side of our day-to-day lives.
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Just reflecting back on some of my happiest moments, I can really say with certainty that it doesn't take that much for me to be happy.
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I mean I look forward to walking my dogs every single
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day as much as I look forward to going out on the weekends with my friends.
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Trying out new recipe at home is just as exciting as going out and dining out at some resort.
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And maybe this is because I am an introvert and I am a homebody, but I can't deny
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that I feel the same kind of joy from these activities as those activities that society would label as fun and exciting.
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And I think I've resisted admitting this for the longest time
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because there is so much pressure to stand out and also to live our best lives, whatever that means.
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We're so often told to dream big, be bold, live large, and to stand out from the crowd.
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And everything else falls under this category of being boring or just being average, like that is the worst thing to be.
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We look to our friends and peers on social media
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and feel like we have to constantly do cool things or upgrade in lifestyles to be validated in some way,
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or just to look like we're also having a great time.
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Not only social media, but the constant noise of advertisements telling us to buy this, go on that trip, drive this car,
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and only then we can live this extraordinary life.
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Our society pushes this narrative that happiness is something to be pursued,
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that we have to spend our time and money to acquire happiness.
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Maybe there's some truth to that, but I just don't think it tells the full story.
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Definitely does not tell the other side of the story.
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As a very impressionable 20-year-old something girl, I was very influenced by social media, but also advertisements.
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Even if I knew that social media was just a highlight reel of
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and marketing was just big companies trying to do their jobs.
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I guess the constant exposure to it really changes the way
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that we think and can have an influence on how we define happiness for ourselves.
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So I bought those outfits.
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I went on those trips.
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I had a very full social calendar, but these things didn't make me any happier as a person.
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And I think it's because these were not my dreams.
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It felt like I was living someone else's life.
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And in fact, it actually distracted me from being satisfied with everything that I already had.
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Now living an ordinary or a boring life does not mean that I can never dream or have aspirations.
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I mean, I still dream of being able to move to the coast of Portugal or Spain one day.
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I dream of having a huge lot where my dogs can run around freely
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and maybe even live on an orchard with big mango trees and fruit trees.
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Yeah, I think I will always be a dreamer.
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But my dreams now don't interfere with what's happening right in front of me, my real life.
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And to be honest, if I can't find contentment in my day-to-day now, there's no way that I'll be able to feel it, no matter where I am or what I'm doing,
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even on my orchard with all my mango trees.
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This ordinary and simple life is what appeals to me,
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but I also notice that I gravitate towards others who share more real and authentic moments of their lives.
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In a world where it's becoming so easy to fabricate things,
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I think seeing life and people in the rawest forms is such a nice change.
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I love seeing what people eat for breakfast instead of what you ate at a Michelin star restaurant.
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I'm more interested in seeing what your home looks like instead of what your vacation looks like.
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I notice myself paying more attention to the person and their story because that is truly what makes you unique and interesting.
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Maybe you really enjoy living a fast-paced or eccentric life and there's nothing wrong with that.
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But there's also nothing wrong with not wanting that.
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In fact, I think there's so much value in embracing living an ordinary life.
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It really focuses on the deep and meaningful relationships, being rooted in our communities, getting to know the people that shape our lives.
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This is a life where we have the time and energy to be fully present with our families, friends, and partners, being able to celebrate the little wins
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and enjoying the getting there instead of but always wanting to skip to the result.
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Instead of meeting society's standard of good time, it encourages us to explore and figure out what we enjoy as individuals,
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no matter how lame it might be to others.
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And instead of putting so much emphasis on having a story to retell, it lets us focus on what's happening in the moment.
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I'm not claiming that everything ordinary is impressive in any way,
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but I am putting the message out there that we might be ignoring what's really beautiful about living an ordinary life.
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Thank you guys so much for watching today's video.
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I hope you enjoyed it, and until next time, take care, and I'll talk to you soon.
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Bye.
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Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why I Choose to Live a "Boring" Life”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: ordinary, dream, instead, happiness, moment. This video has 74 sentences and 1087 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:44. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
bore verb/boɹ/To inspire boredom in somebody.
excite verb/ɪkˈsaɪt/To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement.
homebody nounA person who prefers to remain at home, rather than participate in social events elsewhere.
mango noun/ˈmæŋɡəʊ/Any of species Mangifera indica of tropical Asian fruit trees.
orchard noun/ˈɔɹ.t͡ʃɚd/A garden or an area of land for the cultivation of fruit or nut trees.
advertisement noun/ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/A commercial solicitation designed to sell some commodity, service or similar.
aspiration noun/ˌæspəˈɹeɪʃən/The act of aspiring or ardently desiring; an ardent wish or desire, chiefly after what is elevated or spiritual (with common adjunct adpositions being to and…
contentment noun/kənˈtɛntmənt/The state or degree of being contented or satisfied.
dreamer noun/ˈdɹimɚ/One who dreams.
fabricate verb/ˈfæb.ɹɪ.keɪt/To form into a whole by uniting its parts; to construct; to build.
gravitate verb/ˈɡɹævɪteɪt/To move under the force of gravity.
impressionable adjective/ɪmˈpɹɛ.ʃən.ə.bəl/Being easily influenced (especially of young people).
introverted adjective/ˈɪn.tɹəˌvɜːɹ.təd/Thinking about internal or spiritual matters.
retell verb/ɹiˈtɛl/To tell again, often differently, what one has read or heard; to paraphrase.
validate verb/ˈvæl.ɪ.deɪt/To render valid.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
look forward to verbTo anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.
fall under verbTo belong to for purposes of categorization.
figure out verbTo come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
go out verbTo leave, especially a building.
run around verbTo be very busy doing many different things.
stand out verbTo jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.).
try out verbTo test (something) to see how it works or whether it is suitable.

Pronunciation to watch

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

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: aspiration /ˌæspəˈɹeɪʃən/, impressionable /ɪmˈpɹɛ.ʃən.ə.bəl/
  • Long words — get the stress right: advertisement /ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/, aspiration /ˌæspəˈɹeɪʃən/, impressionable /ɪmˈpɹɛ.ʃən.ə.bəl/, introverted /ˈɪn.tɹəˌvɜːɹ.təd/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like bore, excite, homebody.

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 →