My Cheese Got Moved

Have you ever read the book Who Moved My Cheese? By Dr. Spencer Johnson? It's a simple, yet profound story about change and how we handle change.

In the book there's four characters. Two mice and two little people that live in a maze. They are always in constant search of cheese. And once they find the cheese, they’re happy, everything is good and well, and they get comfortable in that space.

But at one point, the cheese gets moved. Each of the characters handles that a little differently. The mice go off into the "maze" in search of new cheese and the two people- named Hem and and Haw (how appropriate- right?) handle it a little differently. Hem and Haw sit around and spend their time thinking about (and wondering about) what happened to their cheese. I’m not going to get into any more of the story but basically, that's the idea. It's about change and how we handle change.

I'm also not going to get into the ins and outs or the whys or what-fors- but... my cheese got moved.

And when my cheese got moved, I didn't know what to do. I was in the same place that those little people were in. I hemmed and hawed and I didn't know how to handle my cheese being moved. A change occurred that was out of my control and I needed to decide how I was going to handle it.

At first it was tough.

It was really tough.

I didn't know what to do. I hemmed and hawed and I wasn't sure what I was going to do to move forward. I didn't know if I could move forward.

But eventually, I came to the realization that I had no control over my cheese being moved. And with that, I could either stay stuck where I was, or I could decide to stop hemming and hawing and move forward with what I needed to do and with where I was going.

I knew that at some point I would come to a realization that the cheese I had maybe wasn't necessarily the cheese I needed at the time.

You see, that has happened to me in my life many times before- looking back, I've realized that the cheese I had wasn't what was best for me, that it wasn't nourishing me the way it should. And sometimes? Well sometimes, I've even had cheese that made me a little sick.

Here's the thing though. In the moment, when your cheese first gets moved, it can be really difficult to swallow (so to speak). You keep looking back at where the cheese used to be and you can't figure out why it had to be moved in the first place, right? I mean I don't know of many people in my life (and good for you if you ARE one of these people) that can just accept a huge change- just like that. And when I say "just like that", I mean without looking at where the cheese used to be- like ever. That's not me, it's just not.

So moving forward, I knew that I needed to find new cheese. I knew that I might even need to learn how to make cheese myself because, well- there just isn't any other cheese out there that could nourish me the way I needed it.

And- that's just what I did.

I created my own cheese. I created my own cheese and am figuring out the best way to store it. I'm figuring out the best way to sell it, and I'm figuring out ways to make variations of it that people will like. It's my cheese, and I want it to nourish me the way I need it to.

So you may be wondering- did the work that Amy does- that Primitive Reflex Integration- did it help her get to the place where she's now making her own cheese?

The answer would be yes.

Now- has it been a straight line?

Nope.

I went back out into the "maze" to look for more cheese, got lost, found my way back to where the old cheese used to be- and yes- you guessed it- hemmed and hawed there again for awhile.

But now? Well now- like I said- I'm back out in the maze and creating my own cheese. This work that I have done on myself over the past few years has paid off because I now have the courage and confidence to create my own cheese. A few years ago- I would have just gone running off into the maze and latched on to the first cheese I could find.

Instead, I'm moving forward.

Yes, my cheese got moved.

Yes, I hemmed and hawed for awhile, but now.. I'm moving forward with courage and confidence.

In a few years from now? Ask me how I feel about this cheese being moved.

I bet my story will be pretty interesting...