OK, so I’m at this country fair a few weeks ago with my wife and kids. We’re ready for lunch. I order my tri tip sandwich, they ask me if I want onions and I say yes. I pay for my sandwich and gather some fixings. Ten minutes later, I unwrap the sandwich and THERE WERE NO ONIONS!
My God, how they wronged me!
I swear to you inside my head I start whining. “I can’t believe they forgot to put my onions in!!”
The fact is I allowed myself to feel slighted because they didn’t give me onions on my sandwich. Fortunately I caught myself. I realized who is this little whiner crying about his order not being done perfectly. What am I, a prima donna?
It’s pretty embarrassing to admit that these were the actual thoughts going through my head. But I must come clean because I think it’s a good opportunity for a life lesson for me. Fortunately, I noticed this absurd behavior pattern. For many of us, it’s a control issue more than anything else. Everything needs to be the way it ought to be. I need to place the perfect order at the restaurant and I’m unsettled if I didn’t order just right. I need the exactly right table in the restaurant. I need to pick the perfect route to get to such and such place without hitting traffic.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make things happen and want things to be the best. We just shouldn’t let it get to the point where we are whiners or get unsettled when things don’t go exactly as we want. But I think it’s all about trying to control things less. That helps us stay even keeled and not act like prima donnas when something doesn’t work out just the way we wanted it to.
I’ve found that controlling things less and being more accepting when things do not lay out is an important growth opportunity for me. Work in process…