I like metaphors about cheese. In college, my best friend and I (who were frequently uncomfortable with the specific words used to describe sex) used cheese as a metaphor for certain sex acts so that we could talk about them comfortably even while around many other people with whom we were entirely unfamiliar. It lasted for several years and caused us a great deal of enjoyment. I have to say, it's hard to describe cheese as part of a scale--what cheese, after all, do you put on the bottom? Because, let's face it, cheese is delicious. In fact, I never met a cheese I didn't like. Anyway, we put Velveeta at the bottom (although that does not, of course, provide an official ranking of cheese quality or general enjoyment because I have a very soft spot for Velveeta) and cheesecake at the top and had several other descriptions of cheese that fell somewhere in between. Over the years, I have had Velveeta and I have had cheesecake--literally and figuratively--and I have enjoyed both immensely.
The other day, Andy was reading to me, which is something that he frequently does, when he started reading this book that he read in business school called "Who Moved My Cheese?" Apparently, lots of huuuuge companies (like Apple!) REQUIRE their employees to read this book. It's about two mice, Scamper and Scurry, or something like that, and two little people, Hem and Haw, who live together in a maze looking for cheese. The mice and the little people spend their time searching for cheese in the maze until, one day, they find it at a magical and mysterious place called Cheese Station C. The mice eat it and keep their running shoes nearby in case they need to start looking for cheese in the maze again. The people quickly become lazy--they get up later and don't worry about their running shoes. They begin to think of it as "their" cheese and move their homes closer to it. They grow comfortable. Until one day when the cheese disappears. The mice pick up and move and look for new cheese. But the people have a more difficult time. The people fall apart when the cheese disappears and keep looking for cheese in all the same places, even though it doesn't come back. Finally, one of the little people decides to venture out--but he is VERY scared of it. When he does break away and decides to look for cheese elsewhere, he is empowered and happier because his fear is no longer crippling him.
Of course, for mice, cheese is cheese. But for people, cheese can represent a whole world of things. It was a pretty interesting (albeit somewhat childish) story about how we think we're entitled to things and are afraid to make changes, even when we know that what we're doing has stopped working. I thought the story was so interesting and so timely for me, considering I'm finally finishing school and starting to think about going out into the world and interviewing for jobs. The point is: don't get stuck in a cheeseless situation. Because you really can control it. You can't spend all your life hemming and hawing or being too scared to make a necessary change.
I took it to heart. Today, I went and cut off my hair. Well, not OFF. But I did cut a good 5-6 inches off. I needed a change and I needed to look more professional. I also went to the bank and opened a savings account. And then I worked a bit on my resume. There's no need to get stuck in a cheeseless situation--and I'm going to avoid letting the fear of failing keep me from doing everything in my power to succeed--even if I struggle a lot.
Okay, that's all for my soapbox today. It's a good thing that someone thought to write a story about corporate success in a language that I could readily understand. Cheese. Man oh man, do I love cheese.
I had to read that book. Its a good one.
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