This is an All Ears English podcast, story of my life, how to resonate with people in English.
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Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
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Hey there, Michelle.
How's it going today?
It's going well, Lindsay.
How are you?
Good.
Michelle, when you were a kid, did you like to read bedtime stories like with your parents?
Were there a lot of stories you were always reading at bedtime?
Yeah.
Yeah, I did like to read bedtime stories as a kid.
And actually, just last night, we were trying to Trying to do a whole family bedtime story thing.
So my son knows how to read now.
Oh, it wasn't the dream.
I imagine sometimes you have a plan, an idea and I'm sure our listeners can resonate with this how things are going to go.
And then it'd be so adorable at all.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it's okay.
So yeah, we try and do some reading, do a lot of reading around here when we can.
Um, but what about you?
Did you like to read bedtime stories?
Yeah, I remember reading the Polar Express, some favorites, right?
I mean, Good Night Moon was always a classic.
Polar Express.
Oh, for sure.
For sure.
But stories, I think that's the thing about stories.
We like stories throughout our entire lives, not just as children.
We tell stories as adults, campfire stories.
We lean in when someone is going to tell us a story, especially if they're a good storyteller, right.
Yeah, exactly.
So today we're going to actually teach an expression using the word story that can help you relate to someone with a little bit of personality and maybe even a little sarcasm, because it's kind of funny and relatable.
Lindsay, what is the expression?
Yeah, I'm so excited that we're going into this today, Michelle, because it really is everywhere.
So the expression is story of my life.
Story of my life.
And here's where the episode is going to veer away from storybooks and children's stories and into another way of using the word story.
I am excited.
Yeah.
So, Lindsay, this came up in a recent episode.
We did a role play and we realized. one of those where we said, oh, that's a good one.
Let's do a full episode about this.
That's how you know you're getting real English, right, Michelle, is when it comes up naturally.
Exactly.
So we're going to get into this in just a second.
But first, we want to say thank you so much to our reviewers.
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I love it when our listeners take the time to go over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or even in the apps, the Google Play Store or or the app store, and leave a review and a rating.
So huge thank you to you, Jay Lee, who left us an amazing five-star review.
Thank you to anyone else who like wolves is the username there from China.
Five-star review.
My name is Kimber.
Another five-star review.
So huge.
Thank you.
And also SJ.
HK from China who gave us five stars as well.
Michelle, amazing and huge thank you to those that took the time.
Guys, go over and leave a review and a rating.
We'll read your name out loud on the show.
All right.
Definitely.
Love it.
All right.
So let's go through this.
Yeah.
So when somebody says story of my life, What does this mean?
Oh my gosh.
So what this means is that basically, someone has said something, and if I respond with story of my life, it means I've experienced the same thing probably many times.
I'm very familiar with what you're telling me, right?
Right, exactly.
It's something that they've experienced enough or so frequently or so strongly they could write a book about it, right.
They could write a story about it.
Um lindsey, but do you would you say?
I mean, would you say that this is used for more positive pieces of someone's life?
Or i would say more, a little more negative.
Or let's say annoying yeah yeah, and annoying, Something tough annoying, whether it's something really extreme or just a small hindrance.
I wouldn't necessarily say, oh, story of my life for something that's just super positive.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I don't think it's something tragic.
Right.
It's not.
Right.
You know, true.
So that's another good point.
Mm hmm.
It's like inconveniences, things that just, you know, just trip you up a little bit in life, right?
Exactly.
So, well, let's give some examples.
What could be one thing?
Let's go through some ideas.
We've talked in past episodes.
We just did a series on the laundry and we've both shrunk something important, right?
I know I did this when I was a teenager and I still do it sometimes.
I'm not better than that.
The thing comes out, it looks like a baby's shirt or something, right?
Yeah yeah like oh no, um or uh, getting lost.
I could say story of my life, getting lost getting yeah, if you don't have a good internal navigation system, this happens a lot when i travel.
I'm definitely not the one, like my partner always seems to know the orientation of our hotel immediately, like i don't know how you're finding the way back to where we're staying.
I don't get it.
But um, getting lost, losing things, this is yeah annoyances irritant yeah, or being disorganized, or just, or sometimes if you have to go to a lot of doctors and you're like kind of, you know um any, anything else you can think of that comes to mind, maybe traffic.
So if you spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, that could be.
That could be right.
Someone has come to work and they've said oh, my god, i spent three hours in traffic.
Oh, story of my life on the I five, it was really bad today.
Right.
You're right.
Yeah.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah.
So again, it's generally used as a response to what someone says to relate to them.
Right.
So, and it could also be used when you're sharing something and comment that this is the story of your life.
Yeah.
So yeah, go ahead.
I was just gonna say, that's why this is a connection episode.
And a connection skill, because what Michelle said is really important.
It's not just to say I have that problem too, but it's to relate to the other person.
Yes, exactly.
And it's and it's kind of fun, though, because it has kind of this little sarcastic, little sassy type of undertone for the sassy Saturday episode.
Yeah.
And and then but it's also important to have the right intonation.
Right.
Lindsay, how would you say this?
How would.
Yeah, let's do it.
So here we go.
I haven't been reading because I get too tired at night.
Oh, story of my life.
I also am guilty of doom scrolling when I should be reading.
Yeah.
So your intonation was kind of very familiar.
You're very familiar with what I'm saying.
You're really resonating and you're kind of like, oh, right.
Story of my life.
Story of my life.
Right.
Yeah.
Or here's another mini role play.
Oh no, I forgot to get gas.
I have to stop before i get on the road.
I always do this.
Oh michelle, story of my life, i'm surprised i haven't had to get my car towed for not having any gas.
Yeah, has that ever happened to you, michelle?
Have you ever run out of gas on the?
Oh no, not that i mean no, i actually.
It's funny because yesterday i was just connecting with someone about um that topic, and i had already written this and i forgot um.
But yeah, they were telling me.
They said I coasted on E to work.
What does that mean?
Scary.
You were on empty.
Your gas tank was on empty.
And basically they didn't really use the gas pedal.
Yes.
Right.
Exactly.
I don't know if I understand how that works.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah, I was just talking about this.
So definitely a tech connection topic or one more.
Let's do another little mini one.
How's it going, Michelle?
It's okay.
I've just been so busy getting ready for school.
Oh, I bet.
Story of my life.
Yeah.
So this is interesting.
Yeah.
Right.
Because here you're the one who shared the thing.
And so far, the examples we've shown the other person responding.
Right.
And resonating.
But here you're just resonating with you're just furthering what you're saying.
Right.
Yeah.
You're resonating with yourself.
Right connection.
Right because you're just emphasizing, you're making it stronger um yeah, which gets the person to know you better and like, see what's going on in your life.
You're sharing exactly.
And because i said oh, i bet you get the hint that i get it right on i didn't have to say story of my life, Then you could continue to say yeah, story of my life.
Right.
So then that's key, because when the person resonates with us, then the conversation can kind of continue on that theme a little bit longer.
Right.
It's really about taking cues from what the person says.
Absolutely.
Yep.
Love it.
I'll see you next time.
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Okay, this is good.
So we've got a lot of.
We've got a few other things we might say, and they are.
One of them is very modern too, right.
One of them is I can relate, right?
I can relate.
So for example, I feel like I'm always forgetting something at home.
Oh, I can relate, but a lot of the time I am.
So meaning a lot of the time you do forget.
Yeah, it's not just the feeling.
I see, I see.
I didn't quite get it at first, but now I get it.
Yes.
All right.
What's another?
Another one is just same, right?
I think we've talked about this a little bit.
Or you could say, oh, same.
Yeah.
I've been eating sweets every day this week.
I should focus on eating healthier.
Oh, same.
It's so hard, Michelle.
So maybe here it's the holiday season and you know there's always like sweets in front of you in the holiday season, right?
You're always at a party or something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's funny.
I feel that there is always something.
It used to feel like, oh, just the holiday season.
But now there's always something where there's food and it's just like some sort of party or some sort of I don't know.
Maybe it's something about having kids and there's like a lot of you know.
Oh, maybe.
Yeah.
So anyway, it's kind of true for my life this day.
There's always snacks and sweets around then, right?
Yep.
Yep.
Exactly.
Or what's another one?
You could say that's exactly what happens to me or that's what it is for me.
So for example, I've missed the train twice this week.
Oh, that's exactly what happens to me, especially when I wake up too late.
Yes.
Yes.
And so that one is a little more wordy, maybe a little longer to say, but we want to give you guys lots of options.
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
And guys, if you were wondering which episode we used this story of my life on, that inspired this episode well, we already touched on our laundry series.
So this one was actually an episode where three, part three of the laundry series.
So check out all ears, english episode 2487.
That was laundry in english, part three, overwhelmed by laundry.
Make it a connection moment.
So check that one out.
Nice, love it, michelle.
Shall we go into a role play to bring all this together into one conversation?
Let's do it.
So here we are friends and we're supposed to be on a coffee date and but i just arrived and i'm late.
Okay, you're the one who's late.
Okay, here we go.
I'm late.
Okay, here we go Lindsay, I'm so sorry.
I actually thought it was Thursday today and that we were meeting tomorrow.
Oh, it's okay, Michelle.
Story of my life.
It's hard to keep track, especially in the summer.
Okay, thanks.
I get so disorganized.
Oh, I can relate.
I missed a get together with my friend and I wasn't even in town, so I couldn't meet her.
I felt so bad.
I just forget and get distracted.
That's exactly what it is for me.
Yeah, once I have more structure, it'll be good.
Oh, same.
Yeah, I bet a lot of parents feel this way.
People feel this way in the summer, especially if your schedule is a little less structured right, not as exactly.
I think you know when you're, or do you ever?
When you're on vacation, you can't think of what day it is.
Oh totally, which is a good thing, i think.
On vacation, you know you should forget what day it is.
I think yeah, moments to do that.
I'm going on a vacation soon to norway and i need the vacation.
Whoa yeah yeah definitely, that's so exciting.
Yeah so um, Here we go.
You said, so it sounds like I totally messed up the day we were meeting.
And you said, you used it as a connection moment.
You said, oh, it's okay, Michelle, story of my life.
Exactly.
So I'm saying it's okay.
And I do that all the time too, right?
I'm saying this happens to me a lot too, being late like you were, right?
Yes.
And then you say, oh, I get so disorganized.
And I say, oh, I can relate.
I missed a get together with my friend and I wasn't even in town.
Oh, geez.
That's not good.
Oh, dear.
And then you said, I just forget and get distracted.
So I said, that's exactly what it is for me.
So that's the lengthier one, but very useful too.
And then I said, yeah, once I have more structure, it'll be good.
And you said, oh, same.
Oh, same, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's something very human about resonating with what someone else has said.
I think it just like our brains are so wired for it for this feeling of relating to someone else and sharing that.
You've had that same experience.
I feel like there's like chemicals that go off or something.
It's true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And especially in this kind of situation where I'm feeling bad, I made a mistake.
And you using all of these and kind of saying, you know, it's showing we're all human, right?
And we're connecting over that.
So these phrases really help us do that.
You got it.
All right.
So I'm going to remind our listeners one more time guys, if you love our show, our style is all about teaching you English.
Yes. but it's not just about the language.
It's about human connection.
So we try to bring every episode back to human connection how you can use it to connect, to be happier.
Ultimately, to have better relationships in your life.
If you like that style, go and leave us a rating and review and we'll try to read your name out loud on the show.
Okay, good.
All right.
All right.
Well, Lindsay, this was this was fun.
I'm glad we could talk about, you know, just really relating to people and not not taking ourselves too serious.
It's so true.
We all have our faults or challenges or you know, our mistakes.
And so that's how it is.
That's how we are.
That's what makes us human, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Love it.
All right.
Well, thanks for chatting with me about this today.
And guys, we'll talk to you next time.
All right.
Talk soon, Michelle.
Bye.
Bye.
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