Enough is Enough: Minecraft Realms Auto-Update

I have a multi-year realm that I've hosted through the Java realms service. While the price is alright and I haven't had any connectivity issues, just problems with chunk loading while flying with elytra, there is one major issue that must be addressed. Like many other players, I love Minecraft because of the unlimited options and playstyles at my fingertips. I have found a bunch of curseforge mods that I quite enjoy and frankly would rather not play without them.

The problem is that Microsoft, for seemingly no reason, forces ALL java realms to update to the newest version immediately. The result is that I have to wait a while for all of the devs that do the curseforge mods I enjoy to update their software.

Help me understand why this is the policy, why can't the player decide which version they want to play? I am very close to closing my realms account and either hosting from my own computer, which is a pain in the ass, or hosting from a third party service. As a long time consumer, it is infuriating to me that Microsoft hasn't addressed this at all. At least tell us WHY you're forcing an update.

To me, it seems that realms was a fantastic idea, but Microsoft doesn't care at all about the actual playing experience and community behind Minecraft, but are happy to sit back and collect monthly payments. This will be my last month on realms unless this is addressed.