Perspective and Expectations: Life's regulators

Years ago I had a very good counselor. Oddly, I cannot recall her name. But I remember many things she helped me with that I still carry with me. I also remember that she would take time off from counseling now and then to run a fork lift at a factory for a while. I can understand why.
Several of the biggest things I took away from it all I often revisit when things are tough. First, life has highs and lows. That's natural. But if our highs are very high and our lows are very low, we may need to look deeper at how we handle life. The goal is to keep the lows from being too low and the highs not dangerous to fall from.
The second was to check my perspective. Often, I read things into what another would say and I would over react. She helped me to see how my perspective was contributing to those highs and lows.
Third, was about expectations. Were my expectations of others realistic? Did I expect too little or too much from myself? Did I understand what others were expecting of me and were they reasonable? How were those expectations affecting those around me?
Finally, and perhaps most important of all, was to rate situations on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten would result in actual death. My reactions should reflect the reality of the severity of the situation. I was reminded of this one recently when talking to a restaurant owner. Before buying the restaurant, she was an ER Trauma nurse. When things got crazy in the kitchen, she would remind her people, "It's just scrambled eggs. No one is going to bleed out over this situation." Perspective.
If you're the cook and just burned 3 orders of scrambled eggs with 6 orders waiting, it feels like a freak out moment. If your assistant was supposed to be watching while you attended to something else, it feels like a freak out moment. On a scale of 1 to 10, no one is going to die.
A lot of our highs and lows are caused by our perspective about that 1 to 10 scale. If we are really bad at assigning value to the natural highs and lows of life, we're going to struggle. Perspective and expectations are our regulators. Those things are ours and ours alone. WE regulate our highs and lows. WE assign perspective. WE assign the 1-10 scale to situations we encounter.