Haw decided to go back and see if Hem was ready to join him.
As he retraced his steps, he stopped and wrote on the wall:
The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Find New Cheese.
After a while Haw made his way back to Cheese Station C and found Hem. He offered Hem bits of New Cheese, but was turned down.
Hem appreciated his friend’s gesture but said, “I don’t think I would like New Cheese. It’s not what I’m used to. I want my own Cheese back and I’m not going to change until I get what I want.
Haw just shook his head in disappointment and reluctantly went back out on his own. As he returned to the farthest point he had reached in the maze, he missed his friend, but realized he liked what he was discovering. Even before he found what he hoped would be a great supply of New Cheese, if ever, he knew that what made him happy wasn’t just having Cheese.
He was happy when he wasn’t being run by his fear. He liked what he was doing now.
Know this, Haw didn’t feel as weak as he did when he stayed in Cheese Station C with no Cheese. Just realized he was not letting his fear stop him and knowing that he had taken a new direction nourished him and gave him strength.
Now he felt that it was just a question of time before he found what he needed. In fact, he sensed he had already found what he was looking for.
He smiled as he realized:
It Is Safer To Search In The Maze Than Remain In A Cheesless Situation.
Haw realized again, as he had once before, that what you are afraid of is never as bad as what you imagine. The fear you let build up in your mind is worse than the situation that actually exists.
He’d been so afraid of never finding New Cheese that he didn’t even want to start looking. But since his journey he had enough Cheese in the corridors to keep him going. Now he looked forward to finding more. Just looking ahead was becoming exciting.
His old thinking had been clouded by his worries and fears. He used to think about not having enough Cheese, or not having it last as long as he wanted. He used to think more about what could go wrong than what could go right.
But that had changed in the days since he had left Cheese Station C.
He used to believe that Cheese should never be moved and that change wasn’t right.
Now he realized it was natural for change to continually occur, whether you expect it or not. Change could surprise you only if you didn’t expect it and weren’t looking for it.
When he realized he had changed his beliefs, he paused to write on the wall:
Old Beliefs Do Not Lead You To New Cheese.
Haw hadn’t found any Cheese yet but, as he ran through the maze, he thought about what he had already learned.
Haw now realized that his new beliefs were encouraging new behaviors. He was behaving differently that when he kept returning to the same cheeseless station.
He knew when you change what you believe, you change what you do.
You can believe that a change will harm you and resist it. Or you can believe that finding New Cheese will help you to embrace the change.
It all depends on what you choose to believe.
He wrote on the wall:
When You See That You Can Find And Enjoy New Cheese, You Change Course.
Haw knew he would be in better shape now if he had embraced the change much sooner and left Cheese Station C earlier. He would feel stronger in body and spirit and he could have coped better with the challenge of finding New Cheese. In fact, he probably would have found it by now if he had expected change, rather than wasting time denying that the change had already taken place.
He gathered his will and decided to keep proceeding into the newer parts of the maze. He found little bits of Cheese here and there and began to regain his strength and confidence.
As he thought back on where he had come from, Haw was glad he had written on the wall in many places. He trusted it would serve as a marked trail for Hem to follow through the maze, if he choose to leave Cheese Station C.
He just hoped he was heading in the right direction. He thought about the possibility that Hem would read The Handwriting On The Wall and find his way.
He wrote on the wall what he had been thinking about for some time
Noticing Small Changes Early Helps You Adapt To The Bigger Changes That Are To Come
By now, Haw had let go of the past and was adapting to the future.
He continued on through the maze with greater strength and speed. And before long, it happened.
C
C
C
C
C