Shadowing Practice: Why you need to get a life, respectfully - Learn English Speaking with Video
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75 sentences
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I've wasted 23 years of my own life before I realized thinking about my life was keeping me from living it.
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I'm currently in Barcelona and something I've been thinking about is the difference between reflection and rumination.
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What makes someone an overthinker?
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How do you deal with it?
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Is there even a cure?
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So I want to share my thoughts.
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Act 1.
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Reflection vs. Rumination.
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They look identical from the outside.
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Both feel like thinking hard about your life.
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But reflection ends.
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You think about the thing, you get somewhere, then you stop thinking about it thinking about it.
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But rumination doesn't stop.
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There's a psychologist, her name is Susan, and she spent her career on this.
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Her research found that rumination feels like insight while making people worse at solving problems and more depressed.
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I think this is like the perfect definition of overthinking
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because honestly every single time I overthink about something I always feel 10 times worse than how I felt initially
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and I never arrived with better solutions.
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I never arrived with a clearer answer.
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I just arrived feeling ten times more stressed, anxious and unhappy.
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Act two.
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What makes an overthinker an overthinker?
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I think I've genuinely just been an anxious overthinker my whole life.
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And I've always wondered, like, what makes me this way?
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Why am i like this you know i have friends that
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when something happens to them they can think about it for a little bit move on make a decision
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and just not think about it again
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but for some reason i feel stuck there's so many things
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that you just have no control over that really impact you
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and that can be really really scary to not have control over things
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so by overthinking something by really ruminating it by thinking about
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all the possible scenarios all the possible solutions you feel like
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you have this control over where your life is going to go
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when in reality you don't act three what do i overthink
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about i overthink a lot about relationships actually i think relationships
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are the type of thing where you truly don't have full control over it
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because there's another person involved another person with their own perspectives
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their own thoughts their own opinions on how to live life
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i think everyone has you know like a conception in their head of how they want to be treated, how they want other people to feel about them.
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Yeah, I think that like as you get older, you just need to deal with the fact that you can't control people's perceptions of you.
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I've always wished that I could compartmentalize my feelings better.
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I feel like when something is on my mind, I literally just can't do anything.
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Like I can't focus, I can't concentrate, I often like can't eat.
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I look at people, especially like my guy friends, and it feels like when something really big is in their lives and they have to go to work, they'll just work.
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Or they're hanging out with friends, they'll just hang out with friends and they'll think about
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that issue later and compartmentalize that to a very specific time of their life.
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For me, it just like bleeds into my entire life, my entire being.
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and it feels like these thoughts like literally flood every aspect.
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I feel like these days I've been struggling a little bit with work.
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Act four, why you need to get a life respectfully.
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I think reflection asks you to sit with your life but rumination like asks you to stop living it essentially.
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Like this video is truly just for people like me, people who overthink so much, who are really anxious about a lot of things and are paralyzed by this like death loop of
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anxiety thoughts and I truly think the answer is to just get a life.
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Go do things, go outside, hang out with friends.
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These loops need to be stopped because at the end of the day they really don't benefit anyone especially you.
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I think for so long I've let thoughts kind of dictate my life, let my like anxiety stop me from doing a lot of things and honestly fuck that guys.
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Final act.
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What does a rich inner life mean?
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That is the ultimate question isn't it?
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I think for me at this point in my life it is traveling.
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Look I've I've spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking about my life.
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If you add it up probably years and did it amount to anything?
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No, nothing except more anxiety
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and we've talked about self-awareness a lot on this channel on
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the trap of it you know I think people can say
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that they're self-aware by over processing things
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but honestly it's stalling the world is out there completely indifferent to your analysis of it
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and it's unfortunately don't have a five-step morning routine for you to overcome overthinking I'm sure there's
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so many better videos out there for you.
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But I think the cure is much simpler and much harder than that.
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Book the thing, ask the question, leave the apartment.
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Your thoughts will be waiting for you when you get back.
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They're very loyal that way, but you'll be slightly different.
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And I think that's the only thing that's ever worked.
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So go get a life, respectfully.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why you need to get a life, respectfully”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: thinking, thoughts, rumination, overthink, overthinker. This video has 75 sentences and 898 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:29. The speaker talks fast, about 200 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| overthink verb | To think or analyze too much. | |
| rumination noun | /ˌɹuːmɪˈneɪʃən/ | The act of ruminating; i.e. chewing cud. |
| overthinker noun | One who overthinks. | |
| reflection noun | /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/ | The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected. |
| anxious adjective | /ˈæŋkʃəs/ | Nervous and worried. |
| compartmentalize verb | /kəmˌpɑɹtˈmɛntəlˌaɪz/ | To separate something into different categories, or compartments. |
| respectfully adverb | /ɹɪˈspɛkt.fə.li/ | In a respectful manner. |
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
| indifferent adjective | /ɪnˈdɪf.ɹənt/ | Ambivalent; unconcerned; uninterested, apathetic. |
| paralyze verb | /ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/ | To afflict with paralysis. |
| ruminate verb | /ˈɹumənət/ | To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen. |
| dictate verb | /ˈdɪkˌteɪt/ | To order, command, control. |
| bleed verb | /ˈbliːd/ | To shed blood through an injured blood vessel. |
| conception noun | /kənˈsɛpʃən/ | The act of conceiving. |
| stall noun | /stɔːl/ | A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get back verb | Return to where one came from. |
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 struggling |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've wasted · I've always wondered · I've always wished |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be treated · are paralyzed · be stopped |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 30 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, can't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rumination /ˌɹuːmɪˈneɪʃən/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, conception /kənˈsɛpʃən/, perception /pɚˈsɛpʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: rumination /ˌɹuːmɪˈneɪʃən/, compartmentalize /kəmˌpɑɹtˈmɛntəlˌaɪz/, respectfully /ɹɪˈspɛkt.fə.li/, psychologist /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/
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 overthink, rumination, overthinker.
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.