Kathleen Willcox, Freelance Writer for Wine Enthusiast, Wine Searcher, and Author (New York, USA)

Years In Industry:
Arguably, my entire life. My family moved to Germany when I was seven, and while we were there, we traveled extensively. It became clear when I was a child that wine and food, especially together, are an easy, but beautiful and sometimes profound way to bridge a gap between people and cultures.
 
When I graduated from college back in the States, I knew I wanted to write. First, I worked for a tiny newspaper (the Lewisboro Ledger), then I dipped my toe into New York City via Thomson Financial (now Thomson Reuters). When I wasn’t writing about investment management strategies for large pension fund companies, I was pitching food, lifestyle and wine publications, and often working on spec and occasionally for free.
 
My first “big break” was writing for the Hudson Valley Wine Magazine; I still love writing for them, along with Wine Searcher, Wine Enthusiast and SevenFifty Daily. I teamed up on Hudson Valley Wine: A Taste of History and Terroir, with Tessa Edick, who runs the FarmOn! Foundation in Copake.
 
It sounds easy, when you put it in black and white, but of course it’s not. Like many other freelance writers, I spend almost as much time pitching editors I know and editors I’d like to know as I do actually writing articles. Frankly the pitches are, often as not, completely ignored.
 
My Biggest Challenge To Wellness:
Balance, especially now, during these strange times. I left New York City for the hinterlands upstate many years ago, in search of balance, and yet it still often eludes me. When the coronavirus hit, and my 7-year-old twins and husband joined me in my home office, it was a lot.
 
It was a juggle of homeschooling, while writing decidedly downbeat about the state of the world, and trying to maintain civil relations with my husband. Looking back, I can’t believe we managed as well as we did.
 
Our path to thriving, not just surviving, was by instituting a schedule and sticking to it. For every hour to hour and a half we spent studying or working, we would give ourselves 15 minutes to play. We ran laps around the house, we biked in our neighborhood, we baked. We played Connect Four, we read silly books, we had tickle and hair styling parties. We laughed.
 
Now, it’s summer and bike tag is the new hotness. I don’t quite understand all the rules, but I can definitely read the glee on their faces. It’s not quite normal, but that’s okay. In some ways, this time has been challenging, but in others, it has been a fantastic gift.
 
In the end, everyone’s biggest challenge to wellness is themselves. Can you resist getting upset over circumstances you can’t control? How much does that resistance cost you?
 
How I keep it together to stay well:
I write down the schedule every day, and we discuss it over breakfast. In addition, certain routines are key to my mental and physical health. They connect me to the people I love, and the pursuits that fuel my creativity.
 
I run or walk every morning, eat enough kale and artisanal cheese to single-handedly support several farms here, and look forward to playtime with my family every day. Monday-Friday, I’m heads-down, focused. Unless I’m traveling, it’s a national holiday or I have a tasting scheduled, I don’t drink alcohol during the week. If I’m feeling stressed at the end of the day, I take a bath and read a book to relax (I’m currently reading A Woman in Berlin and The Secret Chord), or take a walk with my children to catch the sunset.
 
But on the weekends, I aim to really connect with my parents, husband and good friends over meals or on hikes in the beautiful Adirondacks. My goal this year was to tackle several of the High Peaks, but unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating. (Warnings of mudslides have sidelined my plans.) Instead, my husband, my kids (and occasionally my parents and their lab Quincy), tackle the trails in Spa Park in town, and hike some of the less-popular trails within an hour of our home.
 
The family favorite, by far, is Bear Slide, in the Lake George Wild Forest. It is a 50-foot waterfall meandering down an extraordinarily gentle incline. You can walk it, surf it on a rubber tube, or slide down it in a bathing suit. My husband and I bring picnics, watch the kids slide and try to just live in this moment, this day, right now. 

You can connect with Kathleen on Twitter and Instagram.