The definition of quality time is “time spent in giving another person one’s undivided attention in order to strengthen a relationship.” Growing up, I learned quality time is one of the most important parts of life. Contrary to popular belief, quality of time is much more important than quantity of time. In other words, the amount of time you have spent with someone is not what is key, it is how you spend that time together. Many people would say quality time is their primary love language. This can be demonstrated by having a simple conversation, going out to eat, or even taking a trip.
Speaking of trips, my friends and I recently took a trip to Indiana University, located in Bloomington, Indiana. This trip was filled with laughter, good food, and lots of excitement. Not only did I realize where I wanted to go to college, but I also realized how much my friends mean to me and how much I love spending time with them. Sophomore, Mia Hall said, “I think taking all of these trips really made us connect with each other, trying new and fun experiences to help us grow in our friendship. We have learned to laugh and have fun whenever we are together and make amazing memories.” We visited many places as a group and when asked what her favorite place was, Mia replied, “The Escape Room in Bloomington was my favorite because we had to work together and communicate, which helped us grow in our friendship.” Clearly, we have spent a lot of time together, and many people would say that the abundance of time we spend together would drive us apart, but it truly does bring us closer together. Sophomore, Adalyn Brown says something she has taken away from the time our friends have spent together as a group would be, “How much we have all grown together. Yes, we were close before, but I feel like with the different trips and how much time we have spent together as a group, we are all becoming closer to each other and learning more about each other.”
Not only have we been to Bloomington, but over the summer, we drove to Lafayette for the day and visited Tropicanoe Cove Water Park. This trip was truly a blast for everyone. When asked about her experience, freshman Hope Rush said “My experience at Tropicanoe Cove was very fun. There were some really fun water slides we went on. One of them even went in a loop. That one was really fun even though I did not go all the way over the loop.” Tropicanoe Cove had many different activities including a lazy river, multiple water slides, and more! Hope mentioned her favorite part was, “The racing slide. It was a slide with several lanes and all of the girls that went could all go down it together.”
So many amazing memories have been made on our little getaways and every time we travel somewhere together, we come back feeling refreshed and closer than ever. Adalyn says her favorite memory from one of the trips was “The escape room that we did in Bloomington. Even though there was a bit of fighting and arguing, we were able to realize times when some of us needed to step back and let someone else try or let someone else figure out what we needed to do in order to escape.”
They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but I think it is quite the opposite. Quality time is truly so important to a person’s well-being and his or her relationships. If you recall the definition of quality time, is “giving another person one’s undivided attention in order to strengthen a relationship.” Remember, this does not mean that if you are going to spend quality time with someone, you have to do it one-on-one. Our little group is an example of this. I feel as though there is a lot more fun to be had and memories to be made with a group. It strengthens everyone’s bonds with each other and helps us get to know one another better. This does not mean you cannot spend quality time with somebody one-on-one, but in my personal experience, it is much more enjoyable with a group. Quality time is beneficial to us as humans and is vital to strengthening relationships and friendships. Without quality time spent together, we would not be as close as we are today. Quality over quantity is something many people say, and now I truly understand what it means.
