Your Value = Pickles in the Fridge

Ever torn apart your kitchen looking for something that was right there? Maybe it was your car keys. Maybe the remote. For my son, it was pickles. This small everyday moment revealed something bigger about how we see ourselves, and more importantly, how we sometimes don’t.

One day, he was on a mission for dill. Pickles. We had a massive jar of them. Think: deli-style, hand-sized pickles in a jar so big it needed its own zip code. I told him, “They’re in the fridge.” He opened the door, looked for maybe two seconds, and insisted, “Nope, we don’t have any!” I walked over, moved a juice bottle, and voilà! Pickles!

That moment stuck with me because it’s so relatable. That moment stuck with me. We all do this, maybe it’s pickles, but other times, we do this with our own value.
We’re standing right in front of it and still can’t see it. We mistake visibility for worth. If we, or someone else can’t immediately spot our brilliance, we think it must not exist.

We do this all the time not just with pickles, but with our own value.  Sometimes we’re standing right in front of it and still can’t see it. Other times, someone else looks and says, “Nope, nothing here,” and we believe them.

Visibility ≠ Existence

Just because someone doesn’t see your worth doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Just because you can’t see it, same thing.

Life is busy. It can obscure our gifts, strengths, and essence and hide our worth behind distractions, comparisons, or old beliefs. All it takes is a shift, a moved bottle to reveal what’s been there all along.

Have you ever missed something valuable in yourself or believed someone who told you it wasn’t there?

Share your story in the comments or just sit with it for a moment. Maybe today’s the day you see it.

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This topic is included in my book, “Rooted and Real: Truth-telling, ego-checking, and staying grounded when life happens”. If this resonates, check it out on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4eSrMtt