That workbench analogy is a good start, but it can be a bit off. A workbench is cleared at the end of the day, but RAM isn't really like that. It's more like the top of your actual desk while you're working. The papers you're using right now are in RAM, easy to grab. Your filing cabinet is the storage. When you go home, you don't take the whole desk, you just put the papers away. That's the computer shutting down.