I will start by defining this concept, whose misuse generates repeated confusion. In my opinion, there are immense confusion and visible omissions about its meaning. The "quality of life" refers to factors favorable to social welfare.
Among other components, it is related to our attitudes, emotions, perceptions, empathy and elements that sometimes go unnoticed. There is an expression from the prestigious Brahma Kumaris organization, with which I agree: "The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts. " Also, there is an extensive repertoire of basic demands (food, health, education, housing) that must be met to assess the "quality of life".
Enjoying spiritual and physical robustness and raising our intellectual and internal faculties have a direct connotation with this idea, which is not only related to access to information, technologies, modernities, etc. It is linked to integral prosperity.
Let's put a couple of situations: a person of economic comfort and who, consequently, enjoys multiple tangible satisfactions -which cover their subsistence requirements- has an unhappy behavior, drags traumas, emotional wounds, prejudices, complexes and a complicated relationship of coexistence Social; an outstanding professional who faces a lousy work environment in his workplace and, furthermore, intrigues, injustices, discrimination, tensions, enmities and corruption. Can we affirm that, in both cases, they enjoy a good “quality of life”?
However, before society they could appear to be enviable “quality of life” and be considered prototypes to be imitated, based only on measuring their successful financial and work performance. Assessing the "quality of life" involves a range of factors, even subjective ones. It is difficult to establish it without incorporating cultural, ecological, ancestral, religious and social ingredients - not precisely palpable - that demand sociological study.
For its part, the "standard of living" refers to the material abundance of an individual or group and includes the products and services acquired or consumed.It is related to the economic boom achieved. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has established variables aimed at calculating the "standard of living" of the inhabitants of a region. The most significant are: human development index (longevity and health), educational level and the possibility of leading a decent life, which is measured from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Similarly, it includes the multidimensional poverty indicator, the efficiency and the volume of drinking water supply, the Gini coefficient (named after the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, who studies the balance in the distribution of wealth in a country) and GDP.
It is usually calculated based on tangible and economic wealth. This is only valid up to a certain point: opulence is the sum of the patrimony that the subject owns in monetary terms. However, this is not precisely determined by your income. I want to share two illustrative examples.
A neighbor bought expensive merchandise with the fruit of his labor; suddenly you are unemployed. His capital decreases to the extent that the monthly economic flow to which he was accustomed was cut off and, consequently, his “ standard of living ” decreases despite his material abundance. A second demonstration: a man with a high income and large assets who, on the contrary, due to his debts, spends a high percentage of his salary to pay them. The difference in your income in relation to your permanent expenses affects your " standard of living."
Returning to the theme of "quality of life", I must emphasize that environmental issues have direct implications. The inhabitants of a human settlement live in conditions of extreme destitution, use a water resource in a terrible state, breathe air with very high pollution indicators, lack public health services, consume food that is harmful to health and are deprived of green areas in its urban environment. Overcoming the vicious circle between poverty and environmental degradation will be unlikely in the short and medium term.
Let us ensure its sustainability considering the importance, I reiterate, of working on our behaviors and feelings. Learn to forge a close, educated and harmonious relationship; boost our spirituality; assume a positive assessment of the future of life; strengthen our sense of identity and belonging; making our thoughts a quarry of reflection, tolerance and understanding, will facilitate enjoying an outstanding " quality of life ".
It is a task that depends on our attitude, perseverance and way of approaching the future. It is linked to our way of assuming survival and involves countless components of our internal sphere. This deliberation brings to mind the pertinent and interesting statement of the Spanish politician, writer and playwright Jacinto Benavente:
“Life is like a sea voyage: there are calm days and stormy days. The important thing is to be a good captain of our boat ”.
(*) Teacher, consultant in event organization, protocol, image and social etiquette.
