Talents and Interests

Talents and interests are an important part of our lives because they are what you do in your free time. They can help you to be more resilient as they can teach you to persevere, focus on what makes you happy and can help you to cope when things go wrong, for example, if you lose a football match, or a singing competition.  You can’t let setbacks like this hold you back, you should keep practicing, so you improve and become more resilient.

Talents and interests can:

• Make you feel good about yourself.
• Give you a sense of identity and belonging.
• Help you meet other like-minded people.
• Lead to future opportunities.

Why not ask yourself:

• Is there something you love and want to spend more time doing?
• Is there something that you used to enjoy doing but aren’t doing it anymore?
• What activities and clubs do you already know about?
• Are any of your friends involved in anything that you would like to try?

You could always ask your school or do some research on google about what there is to get involved with in your local area. Or you can find different ways to express your talents and interests through:

• Joining a club: This could be inside or outside of school. This could be groups like guides or scouts, a sports club, a craft club, or you could even start your own club!
• Showcase your talent online: You could start a blog about things that you are passionate about or create YouTube videos about what you are interested in, whether it’s makeup, gaming or baking, there is a platform for everything!
• Get your friends involved: Why not talk to your friends, you could put an event together like a talent show or you could start your own group such as a reading group. By encouraging each other, you will help others to develop their talents and interests as well as nurturing your own!

Remember a talent isn’t just being good at sports, or music, it can be being creative, being enthusiastic, having good determination not to give up, and being able to adapt well to different situations. Everyone has different talents, gifts and interests, it’s what makes you unique.

Watch Alex’s story to see how sports and music helped get him through a difficult time (link to animation in a separate article)