Bottled Worth

A few years ago, I gave up soda. Just stopped. It wasn’t some grand moral stance, just one of those things where one day I realized I didn’t actually like it. Then, somewhere along the way, I quit drinking alcohol, too. Again, not a dramatic declaration, no bad night that led to an epiphany. Just… done. Which leaves me with exactly one beverage of choice these days: sparkling water.

Specifically, San Pellegrino. In the short, stumpy glass bottle with the impossible-to-open cap. The same bottle, every time. I buy them by the case at Costco, where they’re cheap and plentiful, and I drink them all day long at home, feeling just a little bit European as I sip my fizzy water from a glass, like I’m on some terrace in Florence instead of sitting in my apartment in Fort Worth.

But here’s the thing: that same bottle of San Pellegrino—the very same one I’m drinking at home for pennies—can cost me five dollars at a restaurant, six dollars on a cruise ship, and a ridiculous nine dollars at the airport. And the water itself? The same. The bottle? Unchanged. It’s just the surroundings that shift.

I think about this a lot. How something so consistent, so completely identical, can be worth almost nothing in one place and practically a luxury in another. And the more I think about it, the more I realize: people are kind of the same way.

How often do we sit in a place—whether it’s a job, a relationship, a city—and feel undervalued? Like we’re just part of the bulk purchase at Costco, easily replaced, easily overlooked. But put us somewhere else, somewhere that recognizes our worth, and suddenly we’re that nine-dollar bottle at the airport. Same person. Different perception.

So what do you do if you feel like you’re stuck on the wrong shelf? If you’re feeling like a bargain-bin bottle instead of the premium import?

• Change your environment. Sometimes the issue isn’t you—it’s where you are. The people around you, the job you’re in, the place you live. If you’re feeling underappreciated, consider where you might thrive instead.
• Stop settling for discount pricing. If you act like you belong on the clearance rack, people will price you accordingly. Raise your standards. Expect more. Demand more.
• Find the people who see your value. There’s always an audience for what you bring to the table. If you’re surrounded by people who don’t get it, find the ones who do.
• Remind yourself: you’re still the same bottle. Whether you’re sitting on a warehouse shelf or chilling in first class, your value doesn’t change. The only difference is how the world around you perceives it.

So maybe if you’re feeling like you’re being sold at a discount, it’s not that you need to change. Maybe you’re already the same high-quality bottle of sparkling water you’ve always been. Maybe you just need a better shelf.