Reality Check: Is it an Annoyance or an Adventure?

Different people, as we know, prefer different things. Some people enjoy spontaneity; others view anything unplanned as chaos and confusion. Dr. Glasser uses the term Quality World to refer to our collection of what we want the most. To use Choice Theory terms, we could say that a satisfied life is when the life we have largely matches our “Quality World.”
How does a preference for order over chaos connect to our Quality World? If you want to live an orderly life, then you want reality to match your orderly, non-chaotic Quality World. You’ve probably taken steps to make that happen. While you may not have reached perfection in your endeavours, if you’ve made consistent efforts, then I suspect that you’ve had some success by controlling the things you can control.
What are the flies in this delightful orderly ointment? One of them, as you and I both know, is other people.

So uncontrollable, don’t you find? (And a good thing too, because if we could control them, then other people could probably control us.)
While we can work with people, treat them with kindness, offer them information, etc., ultimately they will do what they will do regardless of our input, assistance, superior knowledge, and so on. And this can bring chaos to our otherwise orderly lives.
A second thing that can muss up our orderly processes is change. I’m not talking about those shiny coins in your pocket, but the inevitable ‘progress’ that interferes with things that are already working just fine, thank you.
If you have any technology, whether a computer, phone, tablet, even a TV or a vehicle, then you are already aware of the inevitable updates. What’s the effect of an update? Sometimes, it’s an improvement (yes, really, it can happen!) Other times though, the result of a change is that something that used to meet our needs just fine doesn’t work anymore.
Now what? What’s your immediate reaction when this happens for you? There are plenty of possibilities. Perhaps they include annoyance, fear, or anger. Our reality is out of balance with our Quality World and that causes a kind of pain, doesn’t it?
Is there an ‘antidote’ to that pain? One suggestion that might help is to look at how we frame the situation. We may not have choices in whether the change happens, or how well or poorly it works, but we do have choices in how we view the outcome.
Whether the change is in technology or something else, try asking, “Do I want to treat this change as an annoyance or an adventure?”
You could certainly argue that my suggestion is nothing more than a ‘feel-better’ panacea. It doesn’t actually solve the problem; it just helps us to look at it differently. That would be correct.
However, our reality can be affected by how we look. The choice to use a perspective of adventure could help us take different, more productive actions than when we use a perspective of annoyance.
For example, looking differently could help us hold off on a frustrated argument with the spouse, not fly off the handle at a stranger, or stop yelling at the dog. Then, away from the heat of emotion, we may be more able to approach a situation calmly, even with a spirit of adventure.
We can’t control the fact that things change, or that changes are often stressful, demanding attention and work. However, we may be able to exert control over our reaction.
Do you think it’s possible to choose adventure over annoyance?