Why reading/writing is important to me (LONG POST)
I have a lot of hobbies I like to do in my life and there are multiple things I need to do everyday. To balance things out with what I want and need to do in my life, I write and read whenever I can. Most students at my school would think of "better things" to do. To this day, I still don't know what those activities are. Reading and writing have been in my life since I read Bob Schieffer's name on TV at the age of 2. Books and writing have always been enjoyable and never a struggle. I will explain the scientific benefits of reading and then why I personally enjoy writing.
LifeHack.org has an article I read the other day about the benefits of reading. Stress is reduced when you read about a life that isn't your own (and as a high school sophomore, I need all the stress relief I can get). It can reduce your progression of Alzheimer's and dementia according to multiple studies. Every time you read, new information is added to your brain and you can relate that to any job or interaction you have with people, making yourself insanely smart and prepared for anything that comes your way. This explains why I spout random facts out of nowhere because reading has allowed me to do that to my family and friends :) Reading even improves your memory. It improves your focus and concentration skills. If you read a lot, chances are you'll have good writing skills as well (and I know that for a fact!) Finally, and this is just common sense, it's free entertainment that doesn't involve Wifi!
Writing was never something that I considered I could be passionate about. All throughout elementary school, I excelled at reading, but writing was just something the teachers made students do because they went together, hand in hand. It wasn't until 5th grade when every 2 weeks or so, my teacher made us write with no distractions for 30 minutes. She had a list of prompts on the board, so I picked one about a mysterious phone call. (let me know if I should do a blog post on this) At first I thought it was just a boring assignment, but after awhile, ideas that I didn't even know I was capable of poured out on to the paper. It was a good length when it was finished and I had a sense of accomplishment that I hadn't felt before.
Middle school finally came along and with it, English class that taught us how to write more efficiently. Sure there was tons of reading involved, but writing was something that you did along with the story to comprehend what you were reading. At this time, a series of video games came out and with it, my imagination flowed. The background to the story was completely different in my mind than what the developers were thinking about. One day, out of boredom, I wrote a 3 page story about the first game in the series and I had this sense of Wow, this is fun. I wish I would have started writing way sooner. When I was 9 and 10, I wrote little stories about trips I had gone on but this was different. This was something that I knew most kids my age didn't do or couldn't achieve. I started writing short stories on the second, third, and fourth games. I couldn't stop myself from putting thoughts down.
At the end of my middle school years, short stories weren't feeding my creativity and imagination levels. I had played the game of Minecraft for a long time. There wasn't a backstory to the game, just two different modes; one was survival, the other was creative. I wrote a descriptive paragraph at the end of 7th grade and by 2nd semester of 8th grade, I had written a 37 page story that was edited. I had poured so much of my heart and soul out and the outcome was better than I had imagined. 2017 was the year when a lot of good movies came out. I'd always loved watching movies and that sparked a new interest in me; I wanted to write a movie script. While it's still a work in progress, I'm on my way.
Reading and writing has been my outlet. Others have sports, music, and multiple other hobbies to represent themselves. For me, letting my imagination pour out has made my life one that makes me very happy. I'm still writing stories and working on my movie script. Blogging has let me do both. Writing my opinions and stories and sharing them with the world is already a step forward to my dream of becoming a screenwriter/author. As long as my mind will let me, words will be my life.
LifeHack.org has an article I read the other day about the benefits of reading. Stress is reduced when you read about a life that isn't your own (and as a high school sophomore, I need all the stress relief I can get). It can reduce your progression of Alzheimer's and dementia according to multiple studies. Every time you read, new information is added to your brain and you can relate that to any job or interaction you have with people, making yourself insanely smart and prepared for anything that comes your way. This explains why I spout random facts out of nowhere because reading has allowed me to do that to my family and friends :) Reading even improves your memory. It improves your focus and concentration skills. If you read a lot, chances are you'll have good writing skills as well (and I know that for a fact!) Finally, and this is just common sense, it's free entertainment that doesn't involve Wifi!
Writing was never something that I considered I could be passionate about. All throughout elementary school, I excelled at reading, but writing was just something the teachers made students do because they went together, hand in hand. It wasn't until 5th grade when every 2 weeks or so, my teacher made us write with no distractions for 30 minutes. She had a list of prompts on the board, so I picked one about a mysterious phone call. (let me know if I should do a blog post on this) At first I thought it was just a boring assignment, but after awhile, ideas that I didn't even know I was capable of poured out on to the paper. It was a good length when it was finished and I had a sense of accomplishment that I hadn't felt before.
Middle school finally came along and with it, English class that taught us how to write more efficiently. Sure there was tons of reading involved, but writing was something that you did along with the story to comprehend what you were reading. At this time, a series of video games came out and with it, my imagination flowed. The background to the story was completely different in my mind than what the developers were thinking about. One day, out of boredom, I wrote a 3 page story about the first game in the series and I had this sense of Wow, this is fun. I wish I would have started writing way sooner. When I was 9 and 10, I wrote little stories about trips I had gone on but this was different. This was something that I knew most kids my age didn't do or couldn't achieve. I started writing short stories on the second, third, and fourth games. I couldn't stop myself from putting thoughts down.
At the end of my middle school years, short stories weren't feeding my creativity and imagination levels. I had played the game of Minecraft for a long time. There wasn't a backstory to the game, just two different modes; one was survival, the other was creative. I wrote a descriptive paragraph at the end of 7th grade and by 2nd semester of 8th grade, I had written a 37 page story that was edited. I had poured so much of my heart and soul out and the outcome was better than I had imagined. 2017 was the year when a lot of good movies came out. I'd always loved watching movies and that sparked a new interest in me; I wanted to write a movie script. While it's still a work in progress, I'm on my way.
Reading and writing has been my outlet. Others have sports, music, and multiple other hobbies to represent themselves. For me, letting my imagination pour out has made my life one that makes me very happy. I'm still writing stories and working on my movie script. Blogging has let me do both. Writing my opinions and stories and sharing them with the world is already a step forward to my dream of becoming a screenwriter/author. As long as my mind will let me, words will be my life.
Signed,
Midwestern Redhead
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