Ask Sophie: Where do you get all your energy?

When I was in junior high, I discovered my gift of unending energy. No matter how much I had on my plate: homework, student council, school dance decorations, theatre rehearsal, choir, lacrosse, or youth fellowship, I could always, somehow, get it all done. I could just go and go, like the Energizer Bunny! Of course, although I could go like this for weeks at a time, once all the expectations were met and my duties fulfilled, I would crash as hard as the airplane on “Lost.” I’d go into my room and sleep for 18 hours straight, sometimes more! I think my mom had to come into my room and hold a mirror over my mouth to make sure I was still breathing!

As I got older, people warned me that my boundless energy would wane. But so far, that hasn’t happened! Even to this day, my husband Scott has to remind me that other people aren’t like me; I can’t expect my employees, even my spry twenty-somethings, to keep up with me. I have to remind myself that people need breaks, and to eat, and can’t work 10 to 15 hour days every day for weeks on end. Sometimes it frustrates me when I see my team starting to lag, when I know that I’ve been up since 4 a.m. and am on my second event of the day, but still going strong. But then I have to stop and remember: they are doing an amazing job to the best of their ability, and that what we do is not easy -- even though we make it look that way!

So, to answer the question, “Where does my energy come from?” I believe it comes from the drive within me to create something new and exciting every moment of the day. It fills me up with a sort of power I can’t explain. I do admit that I’m not a night owl, so there’s that. I prefer to be in bed at 9 p.m. every night if I can! I also need at least six hours of sleep to run at full capacity. There have been times, like our busy Halloween season, when I’ve been on week-long stretches of 18-hour days with very little sleep. During those times, I’ve definitely been known to get a little loopy.

So, to sum up, I have to chalk up my energy reserve to a few things:

1. A passion for what I do

2. A genetic gift

and...

3. Lots and lots of tea!