Change- love it or hate it?

[even_sven]

@MandaJo

All those are changes that are under your control, though. Would you feel the same about a job where you were in a different city every week, but you never got to pick the city or what you did during the day there? Or a different couch every night, but determined by other people’s willingness to put you up for the night? Or hair that grows a totally different way each month?

Well, my job has been sending me to a new city every year, with no choice. And I make it a rule never to go to a hairdresser who speaks English, so I can’t influence their creative process. I’m known to do stuff like hop on long distance buses where I have no idea where they are going. But this is really another issue- change and control aren’t the same thing. Obviously , nobody wants a complete loss of control over their lives.

And obviously I don’t like outright bad stuff to happen, like cancer and economic collapse.

But what it boils down to is that if I’m given two options, I am much more likely to choose the one I have no experience with.

[Merhouse]

@Justin_Credible

You’re like a Bizarro-Me. All of that stuff seems inconceivable to me. Inconceivable! I usually like things to stay as they are, assuming I’m happy with them. I’d only want negative things in my life to change.

I am, however, intrigued by your outlook on life. Don’t you ever worry that when things change, they will just be worse than they were before? That’s usually my biggest fear about changing anything. Hell, I’m the most indecisive person in the world, because I always assume that whatever action I pick will be the worse outcome.

I came in here to say exactly this, but I’m certain you were way more eloquent than I’d ever be. Thank you.

@even_sven

This is going to sound strange, but I don’t really care. Being happy isn’t really my main goal. I’m not really sure what is…having stories to tell? having interesting things happen? But I honestly don’t mind- perhaps even welcome- a touch of discomfort.

I know people like you, and to an extent, I envy them. Some of us look at change as adventure, regardless of the outcome, and others, like me, well, I’d welcome changes to make life better, but if the outcome is uncertain, I’d rather count my blessings as they are.

This is all what makes the world and the SDMB an interesting place

[elfkin477]

I have a love-hate relationship with change. I do get bored, so I often find myself eager for change. Yet at the same time, change is sort of scary, so it’s uncomfortable until you know if it works out okay or not. So, I am often torn between welcoming it and fear it. This is one of the many ways I am neurotic.

[New_Beginning]

I have come to like change as I have grown older, but I still despise the act of changing. I hate being in any indeterminate state where things are not solid or not quite decided, or where things are in the process of being reorganized.

[meenie7]

Absolutely terrified of change. I feel so scared and lost when things are not the way they normally are, even if it’s for the better. For instance, I’ll be getting a new computer soon. It’s a good thing – my current one is pretty old, it’s getting slow and I wouldn’t want it to fail on me. But I’m really, really anxious about it – what if some of my data gets lost? What if the new computer makes my wrist hurt when I type on it? How terrible will it be for the few days when my data is being transferred by the guy at the computer shop, and I have NO computer of my own? I seriously feel like crying over that, even though my dad is going to let me use his laptop…I don’t want his laptop! I want MY computer! Why can’t it stay good forever?!

So, yeah. Very different from you, even sven.

[Martini_Enfield]

Change and I have this sort of Professor Farnsworth/Professor Wernstrom rivalry thing happening.

You see, on one hand I do like some change. When I’m in control of it and/or I see the benefit in it.

What I don’t like is having change forced on me and/or when I don’t think it’s going to be an improvement on the current situation.

Like Justin Credible, I have the same morbid fear that any decision I’ll make will turn out to be wrong. I decide to buy a product at the supermarket and they stop making it. I become a fan of a TV show and it goes off the air. I quit my job and the new one is worse than the old one. That sort of thing.

Add to that an intense dislike of being ordered around or told what to do and I won’t say I dislike change (because without change we stagnate) but I’m not exactly Minister of the Deparment of Encouraging Change either…

[clayton_e]

For some reason I read this and right off thought about how I think quarters are useful but most other change is useless…

And I know I read that thread title the other day and right off thought about the thread for its intended purposes.
I don’t like how that’s changing on me.

[interface2x]

@Alice_The_Goon

I hate change. Even if it’s a good change and something that I really want, I have to be dragged into it. I’ll even sometimes go into a mild depression after a change, like moving house. You’d think as a human I’d be more adaptable, but man I hate change.

I agree with this pretty much down to each word.

[Dangerosa]

I don’t mind change, but I was fonder of big change and risks when I was younger - and, probably most importantly, didn’t have kids. Now I value stability over change because change carries risk and my risk tolerance around my kids is a lot lower than my risk tolerance as an adult responsible only for myself.

[Kyla]

I like change. It’s fun! It’s hard for me to decide what season I like the best, because I like the changing of all of them. I move a lot, much more than most people. I enjoy travelling and hate to go places I’ve been before - I want to see something new.

However, I don’t mind eating the same foods over and over. I have the same breakfast every day, and if I make a big pot of soup, I’ll happily eat it every day for lunch until I am done.

[Rigamarole]

I say I don’t like change, mainly as a joke, but one of those tongue-in-cheek jokes that is at least partly true. I voted for Obama anyway.