How Getting My Head Stuck In This Jumbo Jar Of Pickles Taught Me To Relax

It seems like relaxing should be, well, relaxing. What could be easier that kicking back and shutting off? Sadly, too many of us know that taking it easy is never as easy as it sounds. Life intrudes. Work. Kids. Bills to pay and business to conduct. So it’s come as a bit of a surprise that I’ve finally found a way to truly unwind. And an even bigger surprise that it’s because I got my head stuck in this pickle jar.

That’s right. While trying to slurp out some delicious pickle juice, I dipped my head just a little too far inside the jar, and now I’m stuck. And serene! The commotion of life has a way of fading away when you’re neck deep in a jumbo jar of dill pickles. Heck, it probably wouldn’t matter what type of pickle jar I was stuck in. Mustard. Gherkin. Half sour or full. No, just getting stuck inside any jar of pickles has taught me to finally loosen up, and I couldn’t be more grateful.  

They say life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, and for me, what “happened” was violently shoving my head through a tiny hole at the top of this enormous pickle jar, forcing my ears through even though they clearly didn’t fit, and then just sort of accepting that there was no way out again.

Looking back, I have to admit I was focused on all the wrong things in life before I was stuck in this pickle jar. Making money. Climbing to the top. Being the best of the best at everything. It was exhausting. Now just walking down the street, being splashed with sour pickle juice as I stumble from side to side, barely able to see through the haze of this giant jar, is an adventure.

And work is so much more tolerable now that I can barely hear my coworkers through the din of the pickle juice sloshing around my ears. Family pressures? Forget about it. They left the minute I told them I had no intention of taking this jar off.

I would have laughed if you had told me I was going to find serenity inside this jug of brine, but now, I can’t imagine going back. Granted, I’m starting to run out of pickles, and I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to get by once they’re gone. They’re the only thing I’ve eaten for a week, and there’s no way to get more sustenance inside the jar. But if this whole experience has taught me anything, it’s not to sweat the small stuff. You might say I’m in a bit of a pickle, and that’s just fine by me.

Images: Pexels/ Pixabay