The only way to protect ourselves from being destroyed by change is to embrace it with open arms. - Zion Emond
(Yes I’m quoting myself, I thought it was good okay)
I finally read the cheese story.
If you don’t know, there’s a famous story called Who Moved My Cheese? written by Spencer Johnson, M.D. about dealing with change.
It’s written as a fictional story about two mice and two “littlepeople,” basically mouse-sized humans.
The fictional format makes it super easy to follow and understand, while still getting the concepts that it’s bringing out. It’s certainly a lesson in how to tell a story with a moral behind it in a way that resonates with people without pushing someone’s face in the moral.
They Keep Moving The Cheese
In the story there’s seven pillars to dealing with change:
Change Happens
They keep moving the Cheese
Anticipate Change
Get ready for the Cheese to move
Monitor Change
Smell the Cheese often so you know when it is getting old
Adapt To Change Quickly
The quicker you let go of old Cheese, the sooner you can enjoy New Cheese
Change
Move with the Cheese
Enjoy Change!
Savor the adventure and enjoy the taste of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Quickly Change & Enjoy It, Again
They keep moving the Cheese
In the story, the mice and littlepeople live outside of a maze. Inside the maze there are “Cheese stations” at certain points, where deposits of Cheese may have been placed.
Initially, the mice and littlepeople find a large store of Cheese at Cheese Station C and get comfy returning there and enjoying the cheese every day.
The mice constantly monitor the Cheese to make sure it’s not getting old. They make sure that the supply of Cheese isn’t dwindling, so that they will be prepared to go in search of New Cheese when the supply is gone.
The littlepeople become complacent and expect the Cheese to always be there. They love “their Cheese.”
One day, the mice and littlepeople return to Cheese Station C and find that the Cheese is gone!
Immediately the mice run off into the maze to find another Cheese station with New Cheese. The littlepeople on the other hand, begin to overthink. They feel robbed of “their Cheese” that they felt entitled to.
“WHO MOVED MY CHEESE???” one begins to yell.
They continue in this way for sometime, becoming more and more miserable. Cheeseless and sad. Becoming sadder and weaker every day that the Cheese does not reappear.
Eventually, one of the littlepeople begins to wonder if the best solution might be to go look for New Cheese. The other gets more angry at this idea, and can’t possibly imagine looking for New Cheese. All he wants is “his Cheese.” New Cheese isn’t his cheese.
Finally, the littleperson that is more open to moving on decides to face his fear of failure and go off in search of New Cheese.
Along the way, he begins to feel better. He is still Cheeseless. But he feels better! He begins to realize that simply moving forward in the pursuit of New Cheese lifts him up and helps him feel so much better.
After much searching, he finds New Cheese!
To no surprise, he sees the mice already there, having enjoyed the New Cheese for some time. As he settles in to enjoy the New Cheese, he vows to watch and be ready to move should the cheese move or the supply dwindle.
Change, Change, and Change again
Change happens. It’s the way of life. Things change and there’s nothing we can do about it. No matter how hard we’ve worked to achieve something or create a certain environment, something can happen and change everything in an instant. The only way to protect ourselves from being destroyed by change is to embrace it with open arms.
I find that Johnson’s story about the mice and littlepeople makes it incredibly easy to think about change in different situations. No matter what situation of change you’re in, the situation can fit into the story. There’s a Truth to this story that goes beyond mice and men.1
Applying this story to your situation can take the seriousness out of your situation and make it much easier to see the benefits of another point of view. All you have to do is say “someone moved my cheese,” and immediately your mindset on the whole situation changes.
The main idea of the book that Johnson is trying to get across is that change isn’t always a bad thing. Embracing change can lead to new opportunities. Oftentimes, change can lead us out of our current situation, even if we think it’s the best it can be, into something new that’s even better than we could have imagined. That’s why it’s important to “smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.” Sometimes we don’t imagine what our lives could be like if we simply took some steps to change things that were beginning to weigh us down and no longer add the value we once thought they did.
What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?
Something that one of the littlepeople did (Haw is his name) in the story that helped him continue on his search for New Cheese was ask himself a question:
“What would I do if I weren’t afraid?”
Haw recognized that his fear of failure was holding him back. Simply asking himself this question or even having this realization about his fear certainly didn’t make the fear go away, but it allowed him to determine what to do to face it.
Fear can keep us from moving somewhere we need to move, from doing something we need to do.
But if we determine the best course of action to face it, we can move beyond it.
Probably one of the worst fears is one that holds us in inaction. It keeps us bound in our current situation, even when the situation is miserable. The fear convinces us that the consequence of the fear coming to pass would be worse than continuing to maintain the current status quo.
That is never true.
Conclusion
I recognize that not all change is good. Change for the sake of change can certainly be disruptive and cause more problems than it solves. But I do believe that change is good far more often than we give it credit for.
What New Cheese is waiting just around the corner for you if you went searching for it?
What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
Would you finally challenge the status quo that is holding you in a miserable situation?
These are certainly things to consider.
I think I’m clever.
One of these days I’ll actually read that book.