Quality 2025

“It’s all about the quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.”  Philip Green

This week’s conversation is around “quality” and the standard of quality may differ for us all as this is subjective to our own experience or expectation.

Cambridge dictionary states that quality is a standard, how good or bad “something” is, a high standard and quality of life.  This reinforces to me, that we all expect different things with a “standard”.

For some of us, we do a “standard” for us and have a different score card for others.  One that raises the bar for the services from others yet holds it lower for ourselves!  I’m not sure if that is a fair scoreboard.

Quality of life is also subjective and personal to us all.  For me, this is finding the balance between work and home life.  As an accredited mental health social worker, I need to have a minimum amount of training and supervision annually.  I need to factor this into my work life and balance with time off to attend training and/or conferences. 

Whilst the quote above is certainly true, for me, quality of life also includes recreational activities – holidays and self-care.  So, my work-life balance also includes both.  Leave and self-care are also personally based as these both need to be managed with available resources.  Both include time and financial constraints. 

My husband and I are self-employed, so time away needs to be managed to fit in with us both.  We have planned a trip this holiday season and will be leaving just prior to the New Year celebrations.  This year, our New Year is in Cambodia.  We will also explore Vietnam and Singapore briefly.  I am very much looking forward to experiencing the culture and food that all regions offer.  We are away for approximately three weeks and once again, I have decided to place my work social media “on hold” during this period.  This is a conscious effort to lead into the holiday period as stress free as possible and improve my quality of life prior to leaving.

I must admit that I have not placed a lot of planning for this holiday, I have trusted both our local travel agent and the cruise for many of the experiences during this time.  I have balanced both the touring and rest days, to enjoy the experience and being present. 

I will sign off for 2025 and see you in January.