Who Moved My Cheese?
If experience with books has taught me anything, it’s that everything that contains in its title “How to Achieve XYZ in XYZ Days” or has less than 150 pages and concerns personal and/or professional development, usually turns out to be reworked or recycled content and doesn’t contain too much “nutritional” value. Until you thoroughly comb through books that deeply explain WHY you (or other people) do something that’s not good, those books will take you more into a feel-good state instead of feel-good-and-do-good.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule (“As with everything in life, dude…” – note from the subconscious). There are those little books that manage to subtly shake your soul and jolt your brain and make you do a bit of self-examination… and some prefer to directly stick a finger in your eye and yell “WAKE UP, IDIOT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO YOURSELF!” 😀
“Who Moved My Cheese?” with its subtle and charming story behaves like the first aforementioned scenario… but when you finish reading and close the book, you have the feeling it well-meaningly wanted to, in a nice way, stick a finger in your eye.
“Who Moved My Cheese?” by the late Dr. Spencer Johnson is a book that has existed for, well, almost a quarter of a century. I’ve been noticing it (for years) in bookstores, I always liked the title and cover, I saw that (for years) quite a few people praised it on social media, but it never came up on my reading list, although I could read the whole thing on the Novi Beograd-Banjica route on bus 78 during the weekend (those who’ve ridden this route on weekends probably know how long this takes, and that you’ll reach Novi Sad sooner in that time).
And yes, at this moment, with this knowledge (and reading), the book certainly couldn’t reveal anything new to me…
…but I really needed it to still gently sober me up with its simplicity, so I’m sorry now I didn’t read it earlier!
For God’s sake, am I Sniff? Scurry? Maybe Hem? Or, God forbid, Haw?
I’m probably some combination, but I hope there’s not too much Hem in me (“Are you aware of how this looks to someone reading…” – note from the subconscious).
What is the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” about?
One day, a group of good friends met for lunch. They saw each other at their high school reunion, and then they agreed to meet for lunch and continue chatting about various life topics. And so they touched on how time flies, how many things have changed, and how it’s actually difficult to deal with changes. Many are troubled by this in their career, some in the field of friendship, and some in the field of love and/or family relationships.
One of them, Michael, decided to share with his friends a story that changed his perspective on change from a pessimistic to an optimistic attitude, and moreover improved his life both privately and professionally.
The story is simple: in a Maze live two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little people the same size as the mice (Hem and Haw). Their purpose is to find their cheese hidden in the Maze (capital M for a reason).
The mice, with their small rodent brains, thought more instinctively and rushed to find hard and tasty cheese. Meanwhile, the little people used their brains full of different emotions and beliefs to find Cheese (capital C for a reason) that would make them happy.
And so one day, this foursome managed to find Cheese, and everyone was happy. Every day they put on their tracksuits and sneakers and went to the Cheese and nibbled and enjoyed… though over time Hem and Haw put on their sports gear with less and less enthusiasm, but they’d still put it on and go nibble on Cheese.
However, also one day, this foursome no longer found Cheese at that location. The Cheese was gone! What a shock! What should they do now!
Sniff and Scurry, in accordance with their instincts, realistically (instinctively?) understood the situation. There’s no Cheese, it’s nowhere nearby. They immediately ran into the Maze and started searching for Cheese, regardless of whether they’d find new or old Cheese. They didn’t really know where they should go, but they knew they needed to search, because the stomach won’t feed itself.
Meanwhile, Hem and Haw are in disbelief! How is there no Cheese, what happened to it, there must be some mistake, someone must have stolen or hidden it from them, surely it’ll be back in this place tomorrow… No, they MUST discover and understand why their Cheese is gone.
Especially Haw is a big drama queen. Someone else is surely to blame, they’re poor victims of someone’s trick, why would someone do this to them, woe is me, mother, what is the world doing to them… a real drama queen…
And Hem was quite shaken. There’s no Cheese. And it seems this one won’t “return” miraculously. The lamenting of his friend Haw depresses him even more, woe is me…
Then Hem remembered Sniff and Scurry, how they’re already wandering through the Maze. Do those two even know where they’re going, has something happened to them… and what if maybe they’ve already found New Cheese… and what if that new Cheese is even better???
And so Hem wondered aloud whether maybe Haw and he should dare to set off, like Sniff and Scurry, in search of New Cheese through the Maze…
When he heard that, then Haw really started screaming and wailing like someone pulled out his healthy tooth without anesthesia! How will they manage in the Maze after so much time when they always went by routine route to the Old Cheese, they don’t even know where they should go, what if they get lost somewhere or don’t find New Cheese or the New Cheese is worse than the old one… no, no, no and no. WHY SHOULD THEY SUFFER BECAUSE OF SOMEONE WHO TOOK THEIR CHEESE, THEY’RE NOT TO BLAME THAT IT’S GONE! THE WORLD IS TO BLAME, AND THEY’RE VICTIMS! THEY’RE USED TO THIS CHEESE AND IT MUST BE RETURNED TO THEM!
Maybe, if they wait patiently, someone will return their Cheese to them?
And although Hem wanted to show solidarity with his friend (and thereby choose the easier scenario for himself), somehow he gathered strength and himself stepped into the Maze, and started searching for New Cheese.
And now our brave Hem, while wandering through the Maze, constantly questions himself. Why is there no more Old Cheese, does New Cheese exist somewhere, is it madness that he even started on this journey, how do Sniff and Scurry do it, are they okay, should he feel excitement or fear because of this new, unknown adventure, did he turn off the iron when he started the journey, wait, does the Maze have an electrical outlet, wait, is the Maze open or closed, who delivers their bill, the mailman or do they pay online, which bank operates in the Maze, is garbage included in the Maze bill for Infostan, and then… (“HEY, Dummy, get back on track, what iron, what Infostan bill…” – note from the subconscious).
And I think you’ve understood the point of the little book “Who Moved My Cheese?” right? 🙂
Come on, honestly, how many of you recognized yourself in Haw? 🙂
The central character is, expectedly, Hem, and the main theme is fear of change and adapting to it.
Hem on his brain journey about everything happening to him and, when he gets some realization, writes it on the wall (and marks it with a cheese picture), to encourage him, and also to leave a message if someone started to follow him… maybe Haw?
“Who Moved My Cheese?” hits the center in a very simple and effective way.
Cheese is a metaphor for what we want from life – a good job, fulfilled romantic relationship, peace of mind, health, wealth, or something important to you. And the Maze is nothing but the place where we search for that Cheese of ours – work environment, social environment, city we’re in, family or community we live in. And it’s up to you to discover what your Cheese is and in which Maze you are, and whether you’re willing to leave the safe room and start wandering through the Maze in search of your happiness… i.e., Cheese…
As we mentioned, Hem will during his wanderings often realize some things he’ll write on the walls, like:
The more important your Cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it (the point is precisely to question ourselves whether we really want some things as much as we think, because if we want them, why don’t we try to take what we want)
If you don’t change, you’ll become extinct (this sentence is more relevant today than ever, when you look at what a fast and dynamic world we live in and where the “comfort zone” must not lull us to sleep)
What would I do now if I weren’t afraid (this is one of the most common questions asked in work with people (and I often ask it), because we ourselves created the biggest part of our fears and limitations… and they’re often based on some “facts” that may not be relevant to us at all)
When you overcome fear, you’ll feel free (one of the greatest truths in life. I don’t know if this was the author’s intention or not, but the phrase “overcome fear” is not a bad choice at all. Fear isn’t something we can erase, but, as sayings go, courage is action despite fear. I, for example, like to use this coinage)
It’s safer to wander through the Maze than to stay where there’s no Cheese (also a very nice sentence. Many people would be afraid to start searching for food (either literally food or figuratively speaking), out of fear they might not find it or someone else will eat them, but to be fair, if you stay where there’s no food, you’ll starve to death anyway. :D)
If you notice small changes in time, you’ll adapt more easily to big ones (because “the devil is in the details”)
And at the end of his adventure, Hem will in one place (i.e., wall) summarize all the wisdom (about seven pieces) he learned during his search for Cheese through the Maze… of course I won’t share them here, pick up and read the book, it’s not big. 😀
And speaking of book size… people, we’re talking about only 90 pages, and that’s a larger font. The book reads incredibly quickly and easily because it’s so simply written.
The book is a classic for a reason almost a quarter century after its original publication. Moreover, this little story, in this dynamic, unpredictable (and information) world is now more relevant and current than before.
All in all, “Who Moved My Cheese?” is, in my opinion, a classic for a reason, which you must read at least once. As far as I’m concerned, it ended up on my “special shelf” and I’ll certainly occasionally pick it up to remind myself of this little story. 🙂
And you, dear reader, are you more like Haw or Hem? 🙂
Book price: Vulkan | Delfi | Makart
Ratings (and purchase) on foreign sites: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository | Audible | LibraryThing | Reedsy | Waterstones
