Grass. Green grass. In the desert? Yes. And cows.  Wander through the desert and skirt herds of cows and wild horses.  The horses typically keep their distance, watching you with intensity to decipher if you are a threat or not. Cows, stand their ground and continue to chew their cud.

I hiked across one of these grassy fields with a group when I experienced what has become one of my favorite moments since I've been working at Second Nature.

We were in the middle of a hike.  Took a water break and had a therapeutic group(called empty chair*).  The head staff member told the client, who had just had the empty chair, to pick up the chair and walk away.  He didn't set any parameters, he just said "walk." This is a big deal.  Our program is constant supervision and it's rare to see a client walk away from the group without staff, far. He walked, and walked, and walked.  Until he was a little spec.  Then he sat down.  He came back to the group after about 15 min.

Within that fifteen minutes, another client checked in*, he said he wanted to bolt. Wanted to feel the sensation of going really fast, getting the thrill of being alone and running.  Running across this huge flat field,  and being free.  He refrained from doing so because in the front country he would go with his impulses and ended in trouble.  He was practicing self control.  He was also mourning that as an adult he wouldn't be able to act with such spontaneity  He sat with it, just wanting to run.  I wanted him to go. I wanted him to feel the beauty of the desert passing under his feet.  The other staff wanted him to go. Nobody said anything, this was his thing.  He closed the group. We put our packs on, and all of a sudden I see the client, drop his pack, go to a staff, put his hand on the staff's shoulder, and say "sorry, I gotta do this" and ran.  He sprinted away, his sun hat blown off, into the distance he ran till we could barely see him.  He stopped and started barreling back.  At this moment, the one staff started sprinting toward the client, matching his speed. For a split second we all thought they were going to chest bump. A slight leap/high five ensued instead. Rejoined with the group, the client was grinning from cheek to cheek.

Run. Be free. Don't feel like as an adult you have to say addeu to being spontaneous.

*The empty chair group is a group that is often run for individuals who need to talk things out to parents.  It is an imaginary conversation where the individual sits in front of an empty chair and tells the person everything they want to tell them.  It can look like a son telling a dad how the dad has hurt him.  They're really impactful.

*Check in: a group that is called to share what you are feeling.  I feel (blank), I feel this way(when), I feel this way because I think I(core belief of self).