Who Moved My Cheese?

Tomorrow my parents and I-after 20 years of living in our big family home are moving house.

Now that my parents are getting older (and loopier) and finding the large family home and garden too much to manage we are down-sizing to a 'quaint' little bungalow just down the road. I am a poor, single 20-something with no hope in hell in finding a billionaire boyfriend or winning the lottery (perhaps buying tickets first would help) any time soon (oh woe is me) I am to live with them for the foreseeable future. Thankfully the new place has a small slightly separate living arrangement where I will be mit piano, sewing machine, Peggy, a whole host of other stuff that will not fit and hopefully a new feline companion in the near future. It's sad really that I'm excited about adorning my own front door with pinterest decor and fairy lights as well as posting a 'Homeware Haul' on the blog but I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon enough.

Now that the removal men have taken half of our stuff, we have been perching on boxes all Easter weekend and are banned from using anything which after 10 years is now miraculously clean we play the waiting game. It's like the horrible build up when you involved in a theatre show- there' no going back or changing your mind and the day drags on and you don't know what the hell to do with yourself! I have been going round the house and garden with my camera archiving everything and seeing it like its the first time, realising just how much space, character and location convenience we are leaving behind.

The whole process of moving has become a huge anxiety-filled deal in my weird and wonderful sub-conscious and prompted me in this long drawn-out process to re-read a recommended book entitled 'Who Moved My Cheese' by Dr. Spencer Johnson. It's a rather 'trippy' metaphorical story about dealing with Change.

Available to buy from Amazon

Set in a Maze, 4 characters are sorting after the 'Cheese' - ie. the ideal, what we want from life, in my case: comfort, feeling settled, security, a 'happy place' I can call Home. When we have found 'our Cheese' we become attached to it and take it for granted and when we lose 'the Cheese' it can feel like the end of the world; traumatic and difficult to know what to do next. This short, simple story centers around 4 characters who deal with Change differently: Sniff, who sniffs out change early, Scurry, who scurries into action at the first sight of Change, Hem, who denies and resists change as he fears it will lead to something worse and Haw, who learns to adapt in time when he sees changing can lead to something better. It's a story that lets you read into what it means for you and relate to the different characters dealing with the lose of their 'Cheese' allowing you to gain a perspective on dealing with Change in your life. In a nutshell the moral of the story is to be aware and in anticipation for Change and adjust your lifestyle accordingly.

Its made me realise living in the moment is very important. Acknowledge what is happening now and what little things may be making a repercussion long term. I naturally find it difficult to let past things go but it's best to not overthink what could have been and to view life and how your currently managing it from the sidelines; get a bit of perspective. I've been de-cluttering big time and hope to do lots more once I'm in the new place to sift out the old me and adjust to the new! Prioritising what I want from life is my main cliche project at the moment and it's pretty exciting if not very overwhelming. Starting a fresh is going to take time to adapt to but in the long run it will be really good for me (independence-wise) as well as my parents with a space more manageable as they get creakier and decrepit (I love them really).

We've had lots of great pool and garden parties, I have great memories of mad antics my sister and I got up to growing up including re-creating Monty Python's Flying Circus Street Climbing skit up the stair case (a photo I hope will never resurface), conducting an archeological dig in the back garden, making up dances and planning a full scale production of The Little Mermaid's 'Part of Your World' in the living room. It's a beautiful old house that I hope the next family will love and take care of.

So anyway I reccomend this quirky story and I shall speak to you all soon on the other side! 

Goodbye House.