Quantity vs. Quality

I have counseled many financially successful individuals who find their personal and family lives in turmoil. Such men and women are often emotionally unprepared for such a shock, in part because they have insufficiently developed their insight into the deeper treasures of life.

I think many adults have spent years trying to fulfill an image of themselves that they latched onto when they were vulnerable children. But a child's idea of what constitutes success is not likely to be sufficient for a fully formed adult. The transient nature of contemporary life often results in a lack of true mentors along the road to adulthood, and this absence of caring counsel all too often results in men and women who find their lives emotionally impoverished after they've achieved the trappings of outward success.

There is a tremendous difference between quantity (how much one has) and quality (what it ultimately means). Without the proper emotional guidance along the way it is easy to end up with piles of stuff rather than depth of meaning. Oscar Wilde famously quipped that "a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing", and unfortunately there are a lot of similarly disillusioned people whose lives are not as fulfilling and satisfying as they had initially hoped and worked for.

More is not always better. As Albert Einstein observed, "not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." To understand this is the beginning of true wisdom.
--------------
If you like this post (and I hope you do) please visit my primary professional website for related articles on emotional growth and development, individual and couples counseling, tips for successful living, trends in the field of mental health, sex addiction treatment and many other interesting and useful topics.