Who Moved My Cheese?

Who Moved My Cheese?

by Spencer Johnson.

This is a story of about four imaginary characters Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Hog. They are the character free from the gender, nationality, age, caste and creed. But they all live inside of us and they are representing the simple and complex part of our behaviour.

                Sometimes we act like Sniff and become active by sensing the changes around us, and sometimes we becomes like Scurry which quickly come into action. Sometimes we act like Hem which refuse and oppose the changes because we fear about the coming consequences, and sometimes we act like Hog which later on learns that changes lead us to our betterment.

                We can bring any of the character in our behaviour, when we try to find something or when there is sudden change around us. The truth is that we are like one of these characters and our motive is also same to find way in “maze” and become successful in changing time. Through the story we can see that how the four friends survive their life in the maze and how they accept the changes and take actions according to their need.

Many years ago somewhere in far country four little characters lived. These characters live inside a maze and they run here and there in search of cheese so that they can fill their tummies and live happily. The two characters were rat whose name was Sniff and Scurry and two little men Hem and Hog. Daily the rats and the little men roam in the maze in search of cheese. Sniff and Scurry were not intelligent but their mind was sharp. The rats were in search of solid cheese so that they can munch on, where as Hem and Hog were in search of best quality cheese so that they can live their life happily. However there were many difference between the rats and the little men but both have one similarity every morning they wear their jogging suits and shoe and get out of their little house in hunt for their favourite cheese. The maze has infinite corridors and rooms in which the delicious cheese was kept. But also there were many dark corners and closed lanes which do not lead to any way and anybody can lose their way in it. Sniff and Scurry used the trial and error method to search their cheese. In which they use their physical senses and stamina to search their food, where many times they got dead ends but somehow they manage to escape from it. While the little men use their logical minds to reach to their goals whenever they fail they learn from their previous mistake and make the correction. One day they succeed in their goal and manage to find a “Cheese Station – C”. After this every morning they come to eat the cheese by wear their jogging suits. After this they make this their daily routine.

                Sniff and Scurry rise up early in the morning and quickly get ready by wearing their jogging suits and leave their house for eating their delicious cheese. When they reach the cheese station they remove their shoes and hang the shoes in their neck by making a knot, so that can wear them and run from there quickly when there is a need.

                Earlier Hem and Hog were used to get ready quickly and runs to their favourite cheese station to take the taste of delicious cheese, but few days later their daily routine get changed. They didn’t get up on time, they take time to wear their suits and slowly move towards their cheese station because they knew the way and they know that the cheese would never go anywhere. Whenever Hem and Hog come to the cheese station they hang their suits and throw away their shoes and start to eat cheese in relaxed position. They started to think that the “Cheese Station C” was their own property. Here cheese was in huge quantity and they decided to build their house near the Cheese Station and they started to spend their life near that cheese station. They started to decorate their walls with proverbs. One of the quotes was:

“If you have cheese, you always be happy”

Sometimes Hem and Hog bring their friends to the cheese station and they feel proud on themselves by showing heaps of cheese. Their lives were around that only cheese station, they get completely depended on that cheese station for their food. They were becoming very comfortable and lazy and their self reliance changes to vanity.

                The time passes but Sniff and Scurry maintained their daily routine. Every day when they arrive to the ‘Cheese Station C’ they take a round of that place by smelling and scratching to judge the changes between today and the passed days. One day they reached to the cheese station and found that there cheese has gone. They don’t feel amazed because they already found that day by day the quantity of cheese was going down. The rats did not waste time in analysis of the situation. For the rats the problem and the solution for that problem both was prepared, so they accepted this changes and went off in search of another cheese station.

                Later on Hem and Hog arrived at the “Cheese Station C” and they were completely amazed after seeing the view in front of them. “Hem” becomes very angry and he shouted loudly that “Who moved my cheese?” Again he said “how can this happen”, who has moved his cheese and said that why this injustice happened to him. This happens because they were not paying attention to the small changes that was taking place every day. What they had seen they were not ready for that. ‘Hem’ was very worried about this certain changes he was not accepting that the cheese had gone and will never come back. Their all life plans were dependent on the availability of that cheese. After sometimes Hog said “Sniff and Scurry are also not present here. Do you not think that they know something that we didn’t?” ‘Hem’ replied that “They are just only a mice how can they be smarter. We are the humans and we are much smarter than them.” Again Hog replied “But we are not acting like smarter human beings we should go out and look for the another source of cheese.” Hog said “No, we will not go out in search of cheese. I will make all things better and everything would we normal as earlier.”

                On the other side Sniff and Scurry were engaged in finding new cheese. The only thing in their mind was that how they will find new cheese station, and for that they went on that path which they haven’t gone. And finally they discovered new “Cheese Station N” in which they found that they have got huge amount of cheese which was greater than that of “Cheese Station C”.

                Hem and Hog was still at the “Cheese Station C” and they were complaining about the injustice happened to them. Later on Hog started imagining that he was roaming in the maze and taking a bite of tasty cheese. Few moments later Hog said to Hem, “Hem we should now leave this place and we should go out to find new cheese station hope so if we find more and delicious cheese than this station.” In this Hem replied “No, we will not go outside in search of cheese. Going outside in the maze is very risky, we could lose our way and we are also not sure that we will find the new cheese or not. It’s better that we stay here and wait for the cheese.” Hog agreed to Hem’s word. They went to their home empty stomach. Every morning they come to the cheese station and wished that today their cheese might kept at their place. Sometimes they dug walls or ground in search of cheese but they got nothing in their hand, and they returned home by taking their anger and depression in their mind. One day while digging Hog started laughing, by seeing this Hem asked him “Why are you laughing?” Hog replied “We are very stupid. Every day we are doing the same thing and expecting that we could get different result by doing that. We are nothing but wasting our time.” ‘Hem’ was so depressed and lost in his own thinking that he does not bother to listen to Hog’s words. Hog said “Hem, let’s go out in search of cheese.” In reply Hem told that he doesn’t want to go outside he will wait for his cheese to come here. Few moments later Hog decided to go outside in search of cheese alone. But before going out he writes a message on the wall.

“What would you do, if you were not afraid?”

After writing the message on the wall he went off in search of new cheese. In his way of cheese hunt he realised that the ways are not easy and safe to explore. Anything can happen here. But he soon realises that the path was not that difficult which he was thinking. He suddenly stops and writes another quote on the wall.

“Smell the cheese often, so you when it is getting old”

He was leaving this message for Hem because he had a great feeling that one day Hem will also come out in search of cheese. In the starting of the journey Hog was very nervous and tensed but now when he come much far from his old place he was feeling good and was energised to search new cheese because he was enthusiast by getting cheese in the ways. The cheese was in little quantity but still that cheese was giving him the pleasure of success. And again he writes a quote on the wall.

“When you stop being afraid you feel good”

After writing the quote he moved further and he found a new “Cheese Station E”. When he entered in that cheese station he found that the place was empty and very little left over cheese was there. He realised that whether he changed his mind earlier then he would get enough amount of cheese. After eating and collecting few cheeses in his pocket he returned back to “Cheese Station C”. On “Cheese Station C” he saw that Hem condition has become worst. After looking at him Hog tries to give him his cheese but Hog refuses that he doesn’t want new cheese he want his same old cheese and he need everything the same as it was. Hog tries his best to take him out of the place but due to Hem’s negative thinking he feared going out of that place. Hog understands that he cannot do anything for him, so he leaves that place and went in search of the new Cheese Station. Further in the way he writes a new quote for Hem

“When you change what you believe,

You can change what you do”

In his way he finds some cheeses which are kept in the path and with that reference he keeps moving forward, and finally the devotee’s devotion comes to him that he was looking for, he founds a new “Cheese Station N”. There he finds Sniff and Scurry surrounded by huge amount of cheese. The amount of cheese here was much greater than the previous station. He feels good to see Sniff and Scurry but he feels bad also that Hem was not with him. But he hopes that one day Hem will come to this place by looking at the quotes he has left in the way. Hog has got huge amount of cheese which he neither had thought off. But this time he doesn’t sits in his comfort zone and enjoyed the taste of the cheese, he regularly keeps checking that the cheese is in sufficient quantity or not and sometimes he goes out in search of new cheese station because he doesn’t want to face this type of problem anymore. So this is an ending or the new beginning of the story?

At the end here are five key lessons we understand from the story:

v  Changes happens, they keep moving the cheese – Whether you want or not changes will takes place in all aspect of life.

v  Anticipate change get ready for the cheese to move – Now you know that changes will take place so keep yourself ready, because thing will not takes place according to you.

v  Monitor the change, keep smelling the cheese – The changes might be small or big, so always keep an eye on your surroundings.

v  Adapt the change quickly – Accept the change as quickly as possible whenever the change comes and don’t make things worse by regretting the changes, rather try to make them good.

v  Enjoy the changes – Enjoy the changes because this will help you grow faster and will make you move a lot in every aspect of life.