This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2098.
At a crossroads, how to explain your own life decisions in English.
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Have you made some big decisions in your life?
Today, get a key connection skill to talk about why you made certain life decisions that you did and how that changed your life.
Listen in for deep vocabulary for conversations today.
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Hey there, Michelle.
How's everything today?
Everything is good, Lindsay.
How are you?
I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling good.
Excited to be on the show for our listeners, connecting with them and connecting with you here.
So Michelle, here's the question of the day.
Ready?
Okay.
What is it?
All right. do you think it's hard to make big life decisions?
I have a feeling I know what you're gonna say.
Yes, I do think it's hard.
Lindsay, do you think it's hard?
Yeah, I do, Michelle.
I know you've shared with us, this is, you really struggle making decisions, you know?
And yeah, rightfully so, because decisions matter, right?
Yes, yeah, we always have talked about this on the show, you know, the sliding doors aspect of life.
If you made a different decision, how everything in your life would be different.
So it's hard not to think about that when you have a big decision.
Yeah, it's terrifying.
I mean, like I think about when I met my partner, you know, I went to a camping weekend in Boston.
And I remember sitting there about to book the weekend.
And I was thinking, this is kind of expensive. and maybe I could just save the money.
Oh, maybe I won't go.
Oh no, maybe I will.
I was like, let's just do it.
Forget it.
Okay.
Book it.
It's booked.
And I went, I never would have met my partner and my life is obviously, you know, completely changed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's wow.
That is wow.
That's pretty crazy that you actually you feel like you remember that moment of thinking Oh yeah, maybe not.
Wow.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
That's, that's, Oh, I got the chills.
So decisions matter.
But at the same time, so much of life depends on our personality, too.
I think with romance, it's harder because it is hard to meet a great partner.
It's not easy.
Dating is not easy.
So we feel lucky if we've met the right person, for sure.
But life is, in so many ways, what we make it to.
So in some ways, there's no wrong decision.
So I have mixed feelings, Michelle, about all of this.
Yes.
I do too.
Well, today we have a listener question about decisions that we've made in our lives.
And we're going to teach you guys some expressions to talk about decisions you've made in yours.
I love it.
So yeah, I'm excited for this episode.
What a great question.
So, before we get into the question, we want to remind you guys to go ahead and get the All Ears English app.
Guys, we have a great app.
And on this app you can actually get the words of the episode, the transcript as you are listening to it.
So that's such a great way to listen to the show.
And you can also get your personalized power vocabulary list, where we've chosen words that are really important from the episode.
You can click on them.
It saves to a place so you don't have to write things down.
You don't have to.
I mean, you still might want to write some things down, but it's just all in one spot for you.
So where can our listeners go to get that app, Lindsay?
Guys, go right over right now to allearsenglishcom slash app and go ahead and choose your iOS or your Android device.
It is the best way to consume All Ears English because our listeners, especially with those transcripts, Michelle, our listeners love that.
They love it. having the transcript right on their screen.
So yeah, I'm excited today because this is a connection skill, right?
Again, we did a great connection skill last this week on business English about talking asking someone if they're fully remote in their work.
Now on this week, we have a great connection skill about life choices.
Yes.
Yeah.
Good.
Yeah.
All right.
You want to read the question?
Okay.
It's a great question from on.
Dear Lindsay, Michelle, Aubrey, and Jessica.
Hello, my name is Ann pronounces Ann in English and I've been listening to your podcast for two years from Japan.
I want to say I genuinely love your podcast.
And they're my travel buddies on my train trip to university every day.
Oh, I love that.
I'm happy to be a travel buddy.
Hey, hope you are having a good trip today.
Now that you're listening, hope you get a good cup of coffee.
Yeah, we love being along for the ride with our listeners on their way to work or university.
And she says, thank you very much for making such an exquisite podcast.
That is a great word.
And today I have a quick question about your study motivation.
I know all of you went to grad school, but what brought you to that decision and how did you keep your motivation?
I also want to go to grad school to broaden my horizon.
So I want to know your journey to get a master's degree.
I hope you're going to have an amazing rest of your day and thank you in advance.
Best regards, Anne.
Oh, so good, Michelle.
Thanks, Anne.
I love it.
I really I love that question.
I love being your travel buddy.
Love, love, love all of it.
Hey guys, if you haven't sent us your question in an amazing letter like this, you know we can collect your questions on Spotify.
That's great.
But we really love those personal emails, when you send us emails and you give us a little more context behind your question.
We get to know you and then we can read your letter on the show.
Right.
That's what we want.
These really great questions.
So send your questions.
You can send them to Michelle at AllEarsEnglish.com.
Right, Michelle?
You can take those questions.
Send them over.
For sure.
Yeah.
And this is such a great, meaningful, specific question, which we love.
So we're going to talk about it in a second.
But guys, recently we did.
Episode 2089 was an inventor's advice on how to generate new ideas in life and business.
And that kind of reminds me of this episode in a way, because this is all about new ideas, making decisions.
And one thing can lead to the other.
Yes.
And just the serendipity of life, right?
There's a lot of serendipity in life.
And maybe that's another word for another day we can go into.
Yes, but I'm writing it down.
Write it down, Michelle.
That's why our listeners need to hit follow on the podcast so they don't miss that episode.
So, all right, let's get into the meat today.
Let's get to the meat.
Okay.
So let's talk about it and teach some key expressions.
Okay.
So we're kind of talking about it and and and teaching things along the way.
So lindsay, so here's a great way to ask someone, and i'm just gonna ask you um, why did you decide to go to grad school?
It's a good question.
I'm trying to remember now.
Yeah, trying to think back.
So i was living in new york at the time and i just had the feeling like i needed that other degree.
I always kind of felt like i would go back um, and i also really liked the idea of moving to Boston from New York.
I always kind of had a dream of living in Boston, even though I didn't love the idea of leaving New York.
But if I was going to leave New York it would be for Boston, because it's such an academic city, and Cambridge, or you know all these graduate schools, are famous schools.
I just kind of wanted to be in that academic environment again.
I also was interested in my topic.
So my degree is a little different from you guys.
So Michelle, what is your graduate degree in, by the way?
Mine is in teaching English as a second language.
Exactly what we're doing right now.
My degree is in.
It's hard to explain, but it's like intercultural relations, meaning it's like a kind of communication across cultures, how we communicate, how we look at cultures, how we study culture.
So I wanted to learn about that.
Yeah yeah i, i think that's so great.
Well, so i mean, we i was fortunate because we did have some classes on like intercultural communication, so i got, i got some of that as well.
So um, why did i decide to go back?
Yeah um, i was kind of at a crossroads.
I was doing some, i was working on radio and um, I don't know.
I had a couple of experiences where I felt like, oh, I don't know.
And another job opportunity came up.
And in that other job, I felt very much like I wasn't using any specialized skills.
Yeah.
And I liked the job overall.
I liked the organization.
But I don't know.
Maybe had I stuck around longer, I would have been using more specialized skills, but I was doing just a lot of things that I felt like anybody could do this.
This is not my skills.
This is just someone.
And that's fine.
If that's the job you have and you're okay with that, then that's fine too.
But it started to speak to me.
Something needs to change.
And so I thought about what do I really love?
Um because yeah, radio to teaching.
Maybe it doesn't quite make sense, but it does here in english.
Yeah, that's right um, what do i love?
And what i love is i wanted to work in a helping profession that I knew because I wasn't doing anything like that in my other jobs.
And I felt this need.
OK, I'm like not like a teenager.
I felt this need.
I want to help people.
And I love learning about people who are from other countries.
And I also love communication.
And so it all really fit together.
And then I decided to go back.
And then the funny part is now I mixed them together with All Ears English.
And that's one of the reasons I love All Ears English, so much is I.
It's not that I didn't like radio.
I actually love radio.
I love I love all that stuff.
And I and I love being able to broadcast.
And so it really, really worked because I get to do something I enjoy and also help people.
Yeah.
And I think.
I think on top of that Michelle, you inadvertently future-proofed your career because I don't know what the future of radio is.
But I think listenership is dropping in radio broadly and moving to podcasting and more on-demand streaming.
But I think radio is so cool.
When I'm here in Boston visiting my family, I listen to Kiss 108 FM and I'm getting to know the DJ or the jock, what do they call it?
The DJ, the disc jock, the jock.
Yeah, yeah, the DJ.
What do you call it?
The host.
And it's fun.
You get to know their personality.
It's just a cool... industry.
Yeah.
It was a lot of fun, but I was looking for something with a little bit more depth.
I really believe I found it.
That makes total sense, Michelle.
It makes everyone more lucky to have you.
Thank you.
I'm lucky to be here.
Guys, we just gave you our honest stories about what happened, but now we want to give you some expressions to talk about your own life, So you can ask someone to start the conversation why did you decide to go to grad school, go back to school, switch jobs?
About these pivotal moments.
But here are some expressions you can use to share your own story.
Yeah, I love it.
So here's the first one, guys.
So this is where you're going to want to get the app to see this written out, or you're going to want to write this down.
So here's the first one.
I was inspired to go to grad school because, had i still, i had more curiosity about this field, for example.
So i was inspired to go back to school because i wanted to learn about marketing.
Okay, i was inspired to blank, because blank very straightforward yeah um, and then the next thing you can say is i was ready to make a change.
Or you could say i was ready for a change, ready for a change, ready to make a change.
Next one I wanted to expand my skill set right.
So you wanted more specific skills, right?
You wanted to become more of a specialist, right?
Yes, exactly.
I wanted to feel like I have to be the one doing my job.
I mean not that I mean other people can do my job, but I wanted to.
You know that not anyone could just walk in and sit down and do it right away.
Right, right, right.
For sure.
Yeah, I remember feeling a little bit of that two, and that is kind of the point of graduate school in some ways um, and then the next one michelle, is i, i was, i was tired of the grind, so we went into the graduate school grind yeah really, it's a lot of different grinds yeah um, but yeah uh, what is the grind?
Oh, the grind this is a great, great term.
Um, it's usually about work grind, but you could have any kind of routine.
A routine that's kind of hard.
I remember when I was a kid, my dad would always say every Monday, back to the old grind, right?
Yeah.
He had his sayings, you know, so back to the old grind.
It's just a good slangy phrase that you guys should absolutely write down.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
And then the last one is I knew I wasn't done learning.
So really more so talking about, you know, what, what you were missing in that way.
I mean, it's really satisfying to become an expert in something you know.
It's really satisfying to go that deep into something.
Um, and so that is the way to do it through graduate schools, graduate programs.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now let's do a role play to show our listeners how they might talk about this with someone else.
All right, here we go.
So, uh, so why did you decide to go to grad school?
Tired of the grind.
I was ready to make a change.
Right?
Well, But why in that field?
Well, I wanted to expand my skill set.
I was so inspired to go back for intercultural communications because of my time living abroad.
That's true.
I took a wild guess.
That's so interesting.
Yeah, I knew I wasn't done learning in my early 20s.
So I wanted to expand my skill set.
Thanks for sharing.
Okay.
I just realized that twice to expand.
Clearly I wanted to expand my skillset.
Lindsay wanted to expand her skillset.
Yes, I know.
I just realized that I had that.
Whoops.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I want to call out that our listener used an interesting term on and when she wrote in saying broaden my horizons.
I think she said so that could be filled in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I see that as a little bit of a cliche, but we do use cliches and it's okay.
Right.
You can get away with that, that cliche.
Right.
We've actually done episodes on cliches.
I remember.
Um, so look up cliche because I know that we've, um, I know that we've done stuff on cliches.
It's a great topic.
Um, It's debatable too.
What's a cliche?
What's not?
But you might want to come back to allersenglishcom to find those, because those are some older episodes.
Should we go through the role play here, Michelle?
Let's go through it.
So, well, I asked the opener, why did you decide to go to grad school?
And you said...
Well, I was tired of the grind.
I was ready to make a change, which is kind of a general, very like vague answer.
And then I'm digging for more like, what does that mean?
Right.
And you reminded me about my, one of my big reasons for going to grad school, which I had forgotten to share, which was obviously travel in my 20s.
Right.
I lived in Guatemala, lived in Japan and said I want to put these experiences into some frameworks and try to understand what I've seen in the world.
Right um, so well, i wanted to expand my skill set.
I was inspired to go back for intercultural communication because of my time living abroad.
Yeah, totally.
It's amazing what we forget.
Yeah, there you go um, and then you said i knew i wasn't done learning in my early 20s.
I wanted to expand my skill set again.
Yes again, and that's where we could Put in expand my horizons.
Expand my horizons.
Broaden my horizons.
Deepen my expertise.
There's a lot of things we could fill in there.
Right, Michelle?
Yes.
Lots of things you could say.
And I just want to emphasize again, we've talked about this before.
Some people, that's not important to them and they want to do their job and that's okay.
Whatever they're doing, they just want to do their job and go home.
And maybe this specialist aspect isn't as important.
And I just want to say that that's OK.
Oh, sometimes it's a smart move.
Sometimes it is a smart move.
Yeah.
So so sometimes.
Yeah.
So I just want to make that point there that there's also nothing wrong for me.
That's how I felt.
But yeah, it's also fine to do it the other way.
Whatever whatever works for your life.
Oh my gosh, completely.
I think when it.
Well, this comes back to our conversation from Business English about the cost of education.
Now,
I think people get into trouble when they go back to school and they're not exactly sure.
They just go get another degree because they don't know what to do next.
You know what I mean?
Especially when you get into like a second master's or third.
No, no, no.
There should be intention, I think, behind what we do.
And I know some very smart people who just got a bachelor's at their state university, majored in business and are making tons of money and have no plans to go to grad school and will never need to.
You know what I mean?
Well, it's only, I actually, I, um, I didn't want, I never thought I would go to grad school.
Um, I was, cause I didn't, I didn't like being in school.
Yeah.
Now I'm a teacher.
Um, but I didn't, I, I, I don't know.
I was like looking forward to just getting out and doing um um, and i always thought i'm not going back, like i'm not going to go back.
But i went back.
Yeah, i mean sometimes, especially as you get into your like late 20s, i feel like i kind of recommend just take a little bit of a break like, if you can, if you go to grad school, maybe just be in the real world for a little while, like instead of just going straight from college into grad school, because you really don't know who you are yet in the world.
You know.
I went back.
I didn't go back until i was 29.
So I had a lot of time living in New York, living abroad, getting jobs, seeing what it was like to think about what I wanted to study.
But honestly I probably could have gotten away with not going back to graduate school and just reading a lot about my topic.
That would have been fine.
Yeah.
Well, that's the big debate.
Yeah.
Some places you need that degree to actually get jobs.
Like, obviously, Dan had to go to dental school.
Yes, exactly.
Like, if you do anything in the... That's who I was thinking of.
If you're doing anything in the medical field...
Yeah.
You got to.
I mean, yeah, there are certain jobs where you have to.
You absolutely have to.
But then there are also certain jobs that are specialized, that are, you go to trade school for you know like or like plumbing.
Right.
Yeah.
I think that's like actually that makes a very good living, I think.
Yeah.
And I think being strategic about what you major in in undergrad is.
So you know, you're a little, maybe have more opportunities open to you and more fields from the get go like out of the gate, right out of the gate of undergraduate too.
So yeah, maybe we'll go into this another day.
I feel like we're like very interested in this topic.
So we should continue another time.
We'll find another another way to talk about it, guys.
But I wanted to thank Anne again for this great question.
And yeah, we hope on it because Ann mentions that she's considering going back to school.
So we hope whatever it is, you decide it.
You're, good luck on your own journey.
And we are along for the ride, uh, metaphorically and literally while you listen to us.
Yes.
And guys, you know, even if you're not thinking about a life, change yourself.
This is a fantastic conversation starter connection moment right here.
You know, ask people about their life junctures.
You said a crossroads, right?
Really interesting crossroads.
How did you decide to do that?
You can get, you can just get to know someone faster that way.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good stuff.
All right, Michelle, you have a good day.
You too, Lindsay.
Have a good one.
Bye.
Bye.
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