Managing the moment—that’s what I’ve always called it. The moment, you know, is when the circumstances in front of you teeter on the overwhelming and the stress meter is careening off the charts. We all find ways of managing that moment.
The first time I was forced to implement that self-preservation tactic was during my sophomore year at Tulane University. I don’t recall precisely what was making me feel so despondent at the time, but I was a political science major working nearly fulltime at the school newspaper while also managing a very active social life. It was a lot. I do remember removing myself from my immediate high-octane environment and finding a stone bench outside adjacent to a beautiful ivy-covered, centuries-old architectural marvel that doubled as our school’s classrooms. Tulane’s—and New Orleans’—indisputable abundance of bucolic beauty served me very well during those years, particularly as my activities and responsibilities grew exponentially.
Here’s the thing: The moment I went outside, I quite literally exhaled the stress away. That shift in location and focus not only helped me come back to center but helped me access the solution to whatever crisis was making me anxious. Nature, as we all know, is a very powerful tonic—it cures what ails us.
When we first ventured north of our Manhattan digs and bought a home in Poughkeepsie a decade ago—a short walk to another gorgeous campus, Vassar College—I knew we made the right choice. A little later I was told Poughkeepsie’s unofficial nickname was the “City Of Trees” because of the thousands upon thousands of mature trees everywhere you look. This happy development isn’t a given for any city, let alone the largest one in our region.
Over the past decade, I’ve been able to “manage the moment” from our lovely cul-de-sac colonial home HQ as I handled life’s natural and preternatural occurrences—from career stresses to live birds invading our home (via the fireplace); from the mentally grueling days/months/years of the global pandemic to my parents unexpectedly passing not 48 hours apart.
I know…I know…Life comes at all of us fast and unrelenting, I’m just grateful beyond words that I had my little corner of the world (including my tree-filled backyard) where I could go and quietly manage those disquieting moments. And I had Vassar. And farmers markets. And the Kingston waterfront. And Montgomery, Warren and Railroad Streets in Rhinebeck, Hudson and Great Barrington, respectively. Oh, and I had the mountains.
As we ponder the end of yet another endless summer, take a jaunt outside, look up at the knowing, majestic trees and, yes, manage the moment. It will change your life. It certainly changed mine.
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