Page 6 - Personal Portfolio

Section II: Interests

B.1 Creative Enrichment

Enrichment hobbies are pursuits focused on ameliorating the mind in a manner that
promotes creativity as well. For me, these activities include interests such as reading,
researching, public speaking and even playing piano. From an outsider’s perspective, these
hobbies can be regarded as simply wasting time, as the benefits that it presents are not always
noticeable. For example, reading (generally fiction, although I do love genres ranging from

mystery to adventure) is one of my favourite pastimes as it lets me immerse into another world
created by the author’s limitless imagination. With further analysis, by taking a look into what
reading provides, some of its advantages that can be seen include;

- Empathetic Improvement: Provides an insight into how other people think and behave in

response to their circumstances. Moreover, by reading about the feelings of fictional
characters, it makes it much easier to relate to others.
- Vocabulary Expansion: Provides an exposure to a great variety of uncommon vocabulary
and ideas, which is used within context that allows for the words’ proper meanings and
usage to be understood and applied in everyday life.
- A Source of Relaxation: Provides a distraction for the reader, yet requires a focus which

slows down heart-rate, eases tension in muscles and lowers overall stress levels by about
67%.

These are simply a few of the many benefits that reading can offer, which only goes to show that
these types of hobbies that I enjoy, have a greater purpose than simply providing entertainment.
Moreover, the skills that these activities help develop, can be applied to many other situations,

those of which can even be work-related. To use the example from above, the first two skills can
be applied to improving communication with others. In conclusion, the enrichment hobbies I
partake in, all prepare me in a way that can be useful for me in the future.

5