Quality over quantity

Hey Bloomers! 🌼💛 In all aspects of your life, you may benefit from questioning whether you’re choosing quality over quantity. Although this phrase is usually referred to in terms of friendships, it’s a principle that can and should find application in multiple areas. Truly understanding this concept can positively transform your life. 

The meaning of quality over quantity

According to Gone Minimal, “quality over quantity is the practice of placing more value on something with a higher standard, than on having more in numbers”. In other words, we can also refer to this phrase as ‘higher standard over higher amount’. You may have a large number of things but still fail to enjoy them or feel fulfilled by them because they are not of a high standard. Their value is low. For most people, therefore, true fulfilment and joy is found in having quality things over having many things. As earlier stated, this phrase can find application in multiple areas of one’s life. The most common is friendship. This will be discussed, together with wellness and purchases.  

FRIENDSHIP

For a more detailed discussion on choosing quality over quantity in friendships, you can refer to one of my first ever blog posts HERE. True friendships are fulfilling for a multitude of reasons. When you have a true friend, you know that you have someone to laugh and cry with. You support each other in your separate life journeys and offer each other guidance where necessary. You are there for each other, both in the fun times and the serious ones. There is true fulfilment that comes with that.

Because a friendship is such an intimate relationship, it is rare that you will reach this place in your relationships with everyone that you meet. You may only truly connect with a select few and because of the kind of value and fulfilment that comes with such a relationship, a select few is more than enough. Quality matters over quantity in this regard because you could be surrounded by many people but still not feel comfortable enough to share your deepest thoughts with any of them. The number, then, does not matter. This is because the value does not come in the number of people that surround you, but rather, the quality of the people that surround you. Get quality people in your circle, and in the same way, also strive to be a quality person for those you care about.

WELLNESS

As I always mention on the blog, wellness is a broad topic and the best way to understand it is by referring to ‘holistic wellness’. Holistic wellness encompasses all the aspects that make up wellness. Some of these include the emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, and social aspects of wellness. In all these aspects, the idea of having quality over quantity can find application. The aspect that will be used as an example in this blog post is emotional wellness. One of the ways of preserving and building your emotional wellness is through journaling. You can find one of the more detailed posts on journaling, on the blog, HERE. When there is a lot going on in your mind, journaling allows you to take all those jumbled up thoughts and emotions and put them somewhere you can see them. This can be a physical journal or even a digital one. You feel a weight lifted off of your shoulders as journaling gives you the benefit of getting to the bottom of how you truly feel and putting things into perspective.

The link between wellness and journaling

The idea of quality over quantity is connected to journaling because there is a difference between mindlessly making journal entries every day and being mindful and connected to your emotions, taking time with the journaling. The former will not yield as much benefits as the latter. It is therefore not about how many times you have journaled, but rather, how much effort you put into it when you did. That is where the benefits lie.

Having said that, it is important to take note of the fact that there are some instances where quality will not be possible, and therefore, quantity will be enough for the time being. We are human beings, and we will not always be at our best at any given time. As the quote in the last blog post stated, “There is literally nothing in nature that blooms all year long, so do not expect yourself to do so” ~ Liryae. Physical wellness can be used as an example. Sometimes, you just don’t have it in you to have a full and quality workout. Maybe you need complete rest, and that’s more than okay. But maybe you also know you can workout, just not as much as you usually do. Your body welcomes and is grateful for any form of exercise that you do. Short workouts throughout the week are better than no workout at all.

Use your discretion and figure out when there are exceptions to the phrase ‘quality over quantity’. Sometimes quantity is all you can give, and there is nothing wrong with that. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. 

PURCHASES

This phrase truly applies across the board, and this example shows just how wide it can go. Say Tanya has $10, and she wants to buy a quality suit to add to her collection (yes, for the purposes of this blog post, $10 buys a quality suit!). However, she finds that she can get two cheaper ones, at $4 each (I know guys, just go with it 😂). She decides that buying the two cheaper ones is the more economic option and leaves the quality suit. A few months down the line, the two suits are now torn and she has to go back to the mall to make the same purchase. If she had just bought the quality one, it would have lasted her years and in the long run, saved her more money. The cheaper ones, therefore, were not the more economic purchase.

Financial wellness is an important part of the wellness conversation. It is not always possible for someone to buy the quality thing, sometimes the cheaper one is all they can afford. And that is more than okay. However, where you do have the opportunity to choose something of a higher quality, choose that, as it will end up being more economic in the long run. AND, you will have quality products. It’s a win win situation. 

Concluding remarks

It is clear that the phrase ‘quantity over quantity’ is capable of applying in many and different areas.  In this blog post, there were three examples of where it can apply, namely, friendships, wellness and purchases. I challenge you to meditate on this phrase and think of any other areas in your life in which it can find application. It is also clear that this phrase is a complicated one that comes with exceptions and the like. Therefore, be careful to apply it in areas where it ought to be applied, and not simply apply it to every area of your life. Apply it where it will benefit you most. Lastly, this does not mean that you have to disregard the value of quantity. If you have both quantity and quality, enjoy that! But in instances where you have to choose, it may be more worthwhile to go the quality route. 

Sending you lots of love and light, Bloomers 💛🔆🌼

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