When I was in college I met a guy who had so much energy, he had to have been on drugs. I mean, the only other people I’ve ever seen with that much energy are under the age of five. When I first met him, with a bit of shell shock, I asked him, “No, seriously, dude. What are you on?” His response, “I’M HIGH ON LIFE.” (Pretty much everything he said was in all caps.)

Over the years, I’ve thought back to that guy and his energy, and envied. How? How do people get like that? There aren’t many, but the number is more than zero. Or those moms. You know who I mean: they work overtime at a full time job, make dinner every night for three kids and a husband and still have enough in their day to write the Great American Romance Novel. HOW??? (And no, skipping sleep is not the answer. As someone who has had insomnia, this I know.)

It seems like, and this is especially true as I was working through everything that I went through during my time taking care of Pop, that there were never enough hours to do it all, and certainly never enough energy.

Over the last year, I learned a lot about the effect that nutrition has on my energy levels. I mean, duh, right? Food is fuel. Putting better fuel in your system gives better results. The shocking parts for me were that a) sometimes the food we think is good for us really isn’t–and it’s entirely dependent on each individual’s needs and b) sometimes “healthy foods” are actively poisoning our systems, again, dependent on the individual. Don’t even get me started on those low-fat “diet” foods.

After I explain why I switched to a gluten-free diet, people nod and say, “So now you feel better, right? You have more energy?” And I’d pause. “Yeeeees, I do. I mean, I DO!” Which means I didn’t. I mean, I did, but it was incremental compared to what I thought it should be. I used to have so much more. Of course, I suppose, the Depression I’d been going through at the same time probably didn’t help.

A couple of weeks ago, I put out a prayer to the Universe. I want more energy. I never imagined that More Energy would come in the shape of a handbag.

You see, I write during my lunch hour– when I have one– at work. It’s not a long time, but it’s usually enough for me to do what I need, provided I actually use my time appropriately. And that is an awesome quick-me-up to finish out the work day. Once I’d get home, though, I’d turn on the TV, and tune out the world for the rest of the night– after making sure Honey and the monkeys got what they needed too. I was always so tired.

When I signed up with Miche, there was suddenly all this stuff I had to do. But it was fun stuff. I have product to learn. I have marketing materials to create and set up. I have people to meet and connect with. It’s fun. I’m growing. And I have all this energy to do it.

Am I “HIGH ON LIFE?” Not like that, no, but I’m definitely feeling better than I have in a long time, and all because of a handbag.

Seriously, who’d have called that one?