Who moved the cheese?

The story about “who moved my cheese” starts with a group of friends who meet up to have lunch after their High School reunion. As they are waiting for lunch, all of the classmates wanted to hear about what was happening in each other’s lives; therefore, they all began to converse with each other. Most of the topics touched over lunch, were about life in general and how most of their lives didn’t turn out the way they expected it would, instead their lives turned out very differently. As the conversation progressed they all realized that even though they had not kept in-touch throughout the years and were all going through different situations, they were all feeling the same way, afraid of “change”. All of them were trying to cope with these feelings of unexpected changes occurring in their lives throughout the years. Michael, the storyteller, starts out by telling the classmates that at one point in his life; he too felt the same way until he heard a funny story about cheese. He went on by telling them how this story changed his way of thinking and views of life in general. At this point the author begins to describe, symbolically, the manner in which so many different people in this world deal with all kinds of situations and changes in their lives.

There are four characters in the story; two mice, Sniff and Scurry and two little people, Hem and Haw. The characters in the story are all about finding cheese, they treasured the cheese very much; the cheese was important to all of them in a very unique way; the only difference was that each character had a different approach to life. The mice and little people lived in a maze, in my opinion this can be a representation of the world or perhaps ones environment. They all had pretty much the same goal, they looked for cheese, and the cheese to them represented happiness and some sort of achievement. The four characters paired into 2 different groups, the mice stayed together and the little people stayed together as well, forming the other group. They all traveled the maze daily in hopes of finding cheese. One day all of them finally found the cheese they were looking for in station C. The mice and little people were ecstatic with their cheese. “Every morning after that, the mice and the little people dressed in their running gear and headed over to Cheese Station C. It wasn’t long before they established their own routine.” (p. 28)

One day all of sudden, Sniff and Scurry arrived to station C to find no more cheese. However, this did not come as a shock to them. Ironically, they were not surprised at all; since Sniff and Scurry were paying attention to the small details and had noticed that the supply of cheese was getting smaller. It seemed like the two mice had prepared themselves mentally for this day and knew what to do. They weren’t too worried; they didn’t over analyze the situation. They knew exactly what to do. They knew that since the situation had changed in Cheese Station C, they had to change too; therefore they were quickly on their way in search of new cheese. Later on that day, the same thing happened to the little people, Hem and Haw. They both arrived to Station C and to their surprise, they found no cheese. However, their reaction was totally different than the reaction of the two mice, as they were unprepared for what had just happened. “They had not been paying attention to the small changes that had been taking place each day, so they took it for granted their cheese would be there.” (p. 33) Upset and angered, Hem yells, "Who moved my cheese?”

In my opinion, the cheese being used symbolically can basically mean anything we care about in life. Perhaps, the cheese can symbolize ones job, friendships, relationships, or even just the environment we live in. Basically, what the author is trying to tell us is how we adapt to certain changes in our life and that it’s strictly up to us in deciding how we go about these changes. My favorite character in the story is Haw; I love his sense of humor. Haw has learned to laugh at himself and not take life so seriously; especially when he realized he had made a mistake by becoming too dependent on the cheese and unwilling to move on and look for new cheese. When looking back, Haw comes too many realizations in the story that help him stay strong and not give up. He likes to write all of his realizations on the wall as he travels down the maze, the handwriting on the walls say this:

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 Change Quickly and Enjoy it Again and Again
They Keep Moving the Cheese

After Michael finished telling the story, all of the friends took some time to discuss what they got out of the story. One of the most popular observations was that they noticed they could apply all of these insights to their everyday life. One of the classmates brought up an interesting point, Carlos said, "I guess we resist changing because we're afraid of change." (p. 22) My personal thoughts on reading “Who moved my cheese” is that what we are afraid of, is never as bad as what we imagine in our heads. The fear we build-up in our hearts and in our minds is sometimes worse than the actual situation itself. In conclusion, overall reading this book has helped me tremendously adapt to change in life. It has helped me look at situations in a different perspective and has made me approach these different situations with a positive attitude. Additionally, it has helped me develop a healthier attitude towards change and has shown me that the only constant thing in life is change! That is why we should not get stuck with the old cheese; we must keep moving forward and find the new cheese!

References Johnson, S, M.D. (1988, 2002). Who moved my cheese? New York, NY: G.P Putnam’s Sons