A wise friend kept telling me to read this book that supposedly would “help me deal with change.” I asked her for the name of the book; she smiled brightly and said “Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson.”
Laughing was my first response. I wasn’t sure if I could relate serious life changes to dairy products. When I saw that my friend was quite serious, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to read a few pages about cheese.
When I began reading, I found that this book did, indeed, have a thing or two on life changes.
Who Moved my Cheese? is a short story about two mice and two people trapped in a maze, searching for their cheese. The book explains that there are valuable tactics of moving with the “cheese” instead of letting troubles empower.
The humans in Who Moved my Cheese? were afraid of taking the risk to search for more cheese once their supply runs low.
After one of them lets go of his fear, he quickly realizes that it was better to “search in the maze than being in a ‘cheeseless’ situation.” From this, I learned that taking risks and letting go of fear gives you a greater chance of reaching out to success.
Ione Chan, an undeclared sophomore said that she too fears of getting into a career and then realizing it wasn’t meant for her. However, we all have our own methods of dealing with our concerns.
“I talk to advisors or professionals, who are in the career I’m interested in, to find support,” Chan said.
Students have varied and diverse fears of our futures. This story became incredibly helpful for me and became an aid to deal with my academic stresses.
“I’m afraid that I won’t be able to afford Samuel Merritt University,” Nursing major Lidia Barajas Gonzalez said. “If I drop out of school to save money, then I might not have the time to go back to school.”
Time seems to always pass us by. Biochemistry and math double major Destinee Hua said she is afraid she won’t have enough time to get everything done.
“I fear that no matter how smart I might be, I may not get into the profession I want to pursue,” Hua said.
The worry of not knowing if our career choice is the right one makes us fearful. We want to work our way up to a happy, fulfilled life, so how can we be so sure if our path will lead us there?
For Hua, being pessimistic about the uncertain future is not beneficial.
“Being pessimistic won’t get any of my work done,” she said.
Being uncertain about the future, however, is not necessarily a bad thing.
“Sometimes some fear can be good,” Johnson said in his book. “When you are afraid things are going to get worse if you don’t do something, it can prompt you into action. But it is not good when you are afraid that it keeps you from doing anything.”
Health Matters is a column written by the second-year nursing students participating in the Nursing Leadership Class.
