As far as English is concerned, I would say speaking and writing because you can work on your listening and reading comprehension by yourself (when watching videos or reading articles). 

However, you are dependent on others to speak. I found that more often than not, the less you practice, the more you become self-conscious when you do speak. As you fear that people won't understand or will laugh at your poor skills, you won't seize as many opportunities as you can to speak. As a consequence, you make little progress. 

As for writing, you can write without others to correct you at first, but you won't know whether you make mistakes or not. 

I think we all have been, at a certain point in our lives, hypocrite. Maybe because we wanted to be part of a group in spite of not sharing the same values or because we "simply" wanted to hide a side of ourselves. 
In my case, growing up and asserting myself have helped with not resorting to these methods anymore as I won't apologise for being myself.

I love this country and was there until last Wednesday.  How sad to have had to leave this beautiful land.

Happy birthday, Canada! 

- Oh waouw, @Guyomar: every word of yours resonates with me. 
Je me reconnais entièrement dans ton récit...À ceci près que je continue de justifier mes choix à ces personnes dont tu parles, alors même que je devrais simplement tourner les talons. 

Thank you very much for sharing! You have no idea how helpful your comment is!

- @Claudia: haha! You're funny! Exactly: this sometimes has nothing to do with religion. It's just personal preferences...
To each their own! 

- Thanks @Richard: what a good way to start the day (and the weekend)! :-) :-)

- Dear @Sudeep, don't apologise for being helpful...^^ Haha, I could not help but laugh at the "nutella jar" thing.
Yes Michael and you are right: the way we say things matters just as much as what we say...Sometimes it's worth changing our approach without ending up being alien to ourselves. 
Thanks Sudeep! :)

Hey @Jerry, thanks for your advice! 
Fortunately, my friends do understand that and never judged me for that. Some of them don't drink/smoke as well or, if they do, never once considered that as a prerequisite for having fun or being socially acceptable. 

 I lived all my bad experiences in a work environment (where you spend most of your time, at least in my case), where the drinking culture as a social coagulant is really strong. 

But, just like you and Vera said in different terms, at the end of the day, who cares? And this was what I needed to remember. Thank you!