Standard of Living Vs. Quality of Life

Why does Dave Ramsey say that "Cash is King"? The "King" is the one who maintains the Kingdom. Maybe that is why. Yet, maintenance also requires management, right? And, only people can manage - management requires a degree of care. Care involves attention to detail... Right? Right! So, cash is not my King. I do understand that he means it is smarter to operate directly with cash for the sake of financial management. However, care requires consciousness; and, the quality of care determines the quality of life. Your standard of care influences your quality of life. Both of these together determine your quality of life.

So, what is standard of living?

"Standard of living, in social science, the aspirations of an individual or group for goods and services."

This is a biased or narrow explantion/definition of the phrase.

Right now, the most commonly used definition (in a socio-economic-cultural context) of standard of living pertains to consumerism and monetary gain. Like Britannica made so plainly clear:

"Some social scientists maintain that a person’s desired standard of living is strongly influenced by the consumption patterns of his or her income peers. Because of this, an individual’s standard of living may be expected to change as income changes."

For the sake of being thorough, I will also provide other dictionary definitions of standard. All of which are fairly relative to the points of this article.

What does standard mean?

"1. 

used or accepted as normal or average."

"stand·ard

ˈstandərd/

noun

noun: standard; plural noun: standards

1. 1.

   a level of quality or attainment.

   
   

   "their restaurant offers a high standard of service"

   
   

   synonyms:

   quality, level, grade, caliber, merit, excellence "the standard of her work"

   • a required or agreed level of quality or attainment.

     
     

     "half of the beaches fail to comply with EPA standards"

     
     

     synonyms:

     guideline, norm, yardstick, benchmark, measure, criterion, guide, touchstone, model, pattern, example, exemplar "a safety standard"

2. 2.

   an idea or thing used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations.

   
   

   "the wages are low by today's standards"

   • principles of conduct informed by notions of honor and decency.

     
     

     "a decline in moral standards"

     
     

     synonyms:

     principle, ideal; More code of behavior, code of honor, morals, scruples, ethics "a standard to live by"

   • a form of language that is widely accepted as the usual form.

     
     

     "the idea of the standard is projected backwards onto states of language"
   • the prescribed weight of fine metal in gold or silver coins.

     
     

     "the sterling standard for silver"
   • a system by which the value of a currency is defined in terms of gold or silver or both."

     
      

      Basically, your standard of living is your expectation of quality for your life. Unfortunately, because consumerism seems to determine the quality of life for consumers - which we all are all the time in this capital/commercial social construct - we are all programmed to see this as Gospel. I dare to say that quality of life can be better if consumerism is NOT your governing principle. I know people who have been to so many countries, yet they are in debt. I know people who have more money than you can spend in a lifetime - yet, all they search for is love! I know people who have everything a consumer could want, yet they are not happy. Usually, it is because this erroneous concept leads to behavior that dismisses quality of care as a standard of living... attention to detail. Your details and the details of your life!

     By prioritizing standard of living in the economic sense over quality of care, many of us often leave life much sooner than we have to. Many only hear and get use to the phrase "quality of care" in a hospital or hospice.

     
     

     The paper chase comes with its own degrees of stress. Standard or quality of care should determine standard or quality of life. Not the other way around. 

     
     

     Now it's on you!