WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by DR. SPENCER JOHNSON

Who Moved My Cheese? is a fictional story filled with a lot of lessons about making decisions in response to change. Change is inevitable, as some say, but our response to change will go a long way in determining whether we blame people for our failures or move with the change and win.

The story unfolds as a group of friends meet for their college reunion and reminisce over their lives after college. One of them tells this story to illustrate the lessons he had learned and imbibed.

There were two mice; Sniff and Scurry, and two very little humans; Hem and Haw. The humans had complex brains and had the ability to analyze difficult stuff, while the mice just used their instincts to navigate through life. Every day, they leave their homes searching through a maze to find cheese, which they hoped would bring them joy and success.

Hem and Haw were not searching for just any cheese, but a very different kind of cheese. But Scurry and Sniff would use the trial-and-error method to find their cheese, Sniff would use his great sense of smell and then Scurry would hurry off in that direction.

Finally, they all found their choice of cheese at Cheese Station C. So, every morning after that, they established a routine of visiting cheese Station C for their daily needed cheese. 

After a while, Hem and Haw would each wake each morning, but walk slowly since they were sure that there would always be cheese at Cheese Station C. But Scurry and Sniff would keep racing, following the same route every day.

Hem and Haw soon regarded the cheese at Cheese Station C as their cheese. They even moved their homes closer and built a social life around the Station. Sometimes, they invited their friends and shared it with them, sometimes they didn't. They enjoyed what seemed to be an abundant supply of cheese. They even told themselves that they deserved it since they had to work long hours to find the cheese.

One morning they arrived to see that there was no more cheese at Cheese Station C. The mice; Sniff and Scurry had noticed that the cheese was reducing and by instinct knew what to do. When they found out, they continued the search for new cheese. 

The lack of cheese supply shocked Hem and Haw. They couldn't believe that the cheese was all gone and kept thinking if it was real. They even felt pained that someone had moved their cheese? They both went home that night feeling very discouraged.

The next day they came to the same position and lamented as before. Haw thought of going out to find new cheese, but Hem objected saying that they were special little people and no one should have thought of stealing from them. Hem and Haw kept arguing, while Sniff and Scurry were far gone in their search for the new cheese.

They continued to return to Cheese Station C to see if the cheese would come back, they even thought of suing to court whoever did that to them. They thought if they drilled through the walls at Cheese Station C, they might find more cheese. But they didn't. Instead, they grew weaker and weaker from hunger and exhaustion.

Haw finally made up his mind to go out, he imagined himself fruitful in his find. He imagined all kinds of cheese sitting before him bright orange Cheddar, American cheeses, Italian Mozzarella, and so on. 

As Haw prepared to leave, he felt alive again like the old times in finding cheese. The good thing was that he finally left sulking and lamenting about the supposedly moved cheese and went on.

Hem didn't change, but Haw kept hoping he would. So, he wrote pieces of advice and lessons he had learned from his experiences so that when Hem decided to move on, he would notice the writings on the wall and eventually find new cheese. 

All through the journey, Haw felt fear. But he turned the fears to make him go forward not to stay at a point. He always imagined what the next cheese bounty will be like and it keeps him going. Haw even went back to Cheese Station C to offer Hem some of the new cheese he found but was turned down by Hem.

Among the things, Haw learned along the way was that change is natural. He so wished he had known all these earlier and acted on them. Nevertheless, he had more momentum to forge ahead. And finally found a place, Cheese Station N, with the biggest supply of cheese he had ever seen.

Haw realized how far he had come and inspected the cheese supply at Cheese Station C, which seemed unending, he then knew that he was ready to change again if this supply got exhausted. He hoped his friend, Hem would read the writings on the wall and decide to move on.

After the story, the friends continued to ruminate over the story and quiz themselves in on which of the characters they had been or are present and which ones they hoped to become. They found that some of them had acted just like Hem before they finally stepped out, others were Scurry and Sniff and Haw. 

Many of them had either opposed change or have been very reluctant towards a change. Some of them like Hem thought the cheese was theirs and wanted to hang on to them longer. One of them realized he should have been more of a leader than a manager; leading people towards a change rather than trying to manage the present circumstance. 

Hems love to cling to their jobs because they think it provides safety and security, instead of being like Haw, who laughs at fear and forges ahead while imagining his new cheese. One of them wished he had heard the story earlier and when he finally told the story to his organization, it changed the narrative.

Photo credit: Amazon

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