Eleven months ago, teary-eyed girls of mine asked me: “Would we ever become normal again?”. The grief-stricken me did not have an answer at that time. My girls had just lost their loving father and were in shock and denial of his sudden passing.
Now, after a long time, I told them the following story about change, which I share with my dear readers:
In a faraway land, there lived four creatures in a maze: Two little mice named Sniff and Scurry and two little humans (the size of the mice) named Hem and Haw. These amusing characters looked for the ‘cheese’ in that Maze. Every day, without fail, Sniff and Scurry wore running shoes and ran through the Maze to find the cheese to eat. They had simple brains and worked on the ‘trial and error’ principle. The complex little fellows Hem and Haw joined the mice in the search of their favourite cheese that represented success and satisfaction for them. The little humans had a belief system and were sometimes controlled by their emotions.
One day, the four found a heap of cheese at Station C and were ecstatic about their discovery. Though Sniff and Scurry did not stop their morning routine of jogging in the Maze to reach Station C, Hem and Haw built a house nearby to enjoy more cheese, i.e., their success. The little men became settled and stopped exploring the Maze. They threw away their running shoes, thinking the cheese station would always be there. They failed to notice that the cheese was depleting.Sniff and Scurry arrived at Station C one morning and found no cheese. The mice were not surprised because they were anticipating that situation.
Hem and Haw were shocked, as they did not expect the cheese to vanish, so they started complaining. They felt irritated and defeated. Sniff, who was instinctive, started to sniff the cheese and ran to the other side of the Maze. Scurry too hurriedly moved and put himself to the task of finding new cheese. But Hem and Haw could not accept the change of scene, that is, ‘no cheese at Station C’. Hem protested about the unfair situation, and Haw wondered how and where the cheese had disappeared. While the little mice continued their chase in the Maze, the little men stayed back in Station C, frustrated and hungry. Sniff and Scurry then found another Station N inside the Maze where different varieties of abundant cheese were stored. The mice became cheerful and enjoyed the newfound cheese. Several days passed, and the mice ran daily in the Maze and reached Station N to eat the cheese. Meanwhile, The little men struggled and stayed back in Station C, hemming and hawing. They continued going to the same place repeatedly but still found no cheese.
Eventually, Haw understood that running in the Maze was the only way to sustain himself in his life journey. Haw encountered his fears and got ready to leave his comfort zone. Haw started writing about his experiences on the walls of the Maze while cheese hunting. He kept his hopes up and finally reached Cheese Station N, where he found a mountain of cheese of different kinds. Haw met his old pals Sniff and Scurry at the station, enjoying the new cheese. Haw was happy that he had succeeded, but he did not stop there. Instead, he reflected on his experiences and lessons and continued exploring other parts of the Maze.
Haw understood that life had to move on to the future by letting go of the past. Haw felt terrible for his little friend and returned to Station C to encourage Hem to let go of his doubts and rigidity. But Hem refused to budge and sat tight in his victimhood mentality, wailing mindlessly. He was in total denial and questioned the system, ‘Who moved his cheese’? One day at Station N, Haw, Sniff and Scurry heard movement sounds nearby, and they hoped that their little friend Hem might be approaching the Cheese station.
The above fable is taken from the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson in 1998. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
I contemplated for eleven months to (somewhat) answer the question, ‘ Would we ever become normal again’? When I ended the story, my teary-eyed girls looked at me, wanting to hear more.
We shared tears and tissues and talked about the changes that happened in each of our lives after their father’s demise. We also discussed the takeaways from the cheese story, and they are:
My girls loved this fantastic story about ‘Change Management’. What is your take on the changing scenarios of life? Please write to us or dm.
-Habeeba Waseem, Founder & Life Coach, MindsOnFleek