Still Having a Cold

My cold symptoms are still persisting, and I spent most of yesterday lying in bed, trying to recuperate. Fortunately, after a good night’s sleep, now my head is feeling a bit less fuzzy and my muscle pains have somewhat subsided.

Speaking of muscle pains, on the very rare occasions where I feel extreme tightness of muscles around my shoulders due to stress, I visit a massage parlor for a full-body massage. It does make my muscles feel much more relaxed, but I don’t think I should go there this time as I believe that my muscle pains are triggered by my cold instead of stress.

If I went ahead to get a massage, it might even make my condition worse, by helping the pathogen circulate throughout my body. The best thing to do at a time like this is stay as inactive as you can and focus on resting.

By the way, it’s my personal belief that if you don’t have much of an appetite when you’re unwell, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat anything. I’m not a doctor, so I could very well be wrong on this, but as a practitioner of intermittent fasting for nearly five years, I believe that being in a state of hunger can do your body a whole lot of good, like clearing the fogginess of your head and facilitating production of the growth hormone.

Since I didn’t feel up to doing anything mentally taxing yesterday, apart from writing a journal entry in the morning, I didn’t do any studying. Instead, I watched a few YouTube videos on learning how to practice English pronunciation.

My favorite YouTubers who specialize in teaching English are Antonio Parlati from Italy and Inna from Belarus, both of whom speak English with remarkable fluency with virtually zero accent, despite being born and raised in non-English speaking environments. I value their learning tips from a non-native speaker’s perspective.

In terms of methodology, both of them mention the shadowing technique, which is obviously the most go-to method for perfecting your accent. Apart from that, Antonio also stresses the importance of recording your own voice and listening to it to identify areas for improvement in your accent.

I have tried the shadowing technique before, but have been reluctant to record my own voice as I find it extremely embarrassing. But to achieve my dream of speaking English with no accent, maybe I really need to pluck up the courage to take that additional step. Facing and overcoming your fears is the secret to attaining success in any endeavor.