“What color is your parachute” is perhaps the most read book when it comes to career counseling; one that I believe is used in many career counseling classes and was once a staple in my loaned book bookcase until it failed to be returned. The replacement copy soon joined the first one and I started to just refer people to the book rather than loan it. In the book we learned about the three boxes of life and how most of us are taught to segment our lives into sections, each with a unique focus. We learn as kids that our focus is education, when we become adults we enter the work stage and then if we are lucky enough to make it to retirement we begin the leisure stage. Bolles, who wrote the text and updates it annually proposed the concept of merging the corners of these boxes so that they overlap as much as possible; think of it as a “twofer” or threefer” if you will.

For years we have been taught this method and I know that I personally have helped many a client adopt this concept into their life, as I too have utilized it to the best of my ability. I have found a great deal of improvement in my clients once they learned that proper melding can produce great results. But what of melding this concept with our practices; can we indeed successfully meld the three together in order to become more effective not only for our clients but for ourselves as well? If we could, WOULD we or would fear of the unknown or as Donald Rumsfeld would say “the unknown unknowns, that is to say the things that we don’t know that we don’t know…” stand in our way?

As the Chairman of the Board for a tiny not for profit I have a proven track record of maintaining a zero loan balance and have even avoided paying items on time and forget the concept of a corporate credit card; if we cannot pay for it with savings, we don’t have it (this does not count the personal loans that I have given the program and then forgave or deferred payments on). So far this has worked well in the 6 years we have been here. You can imagine the Board of Directors surprise recently when I proposed the adoption of a new concept that would likely cost us millions over time AND would have a questionable return on investment but would promise to provide an ability to expand services a great deal, increase education, add work and maybe, just maybe add a touch of leisure to those we served. My proposal was to purchase an historic tree farm (Pillwillop Farm) for the purpose of opening a therapeutic farm that would offer individual, group and family based therapies as well as Recreational Therapy, and educational programming on farm related issues such as composting, square foot community gardening, passive recreation and arts based programming. The plan requires a multiyear endowment campaign which we have not had much success with in the past plus a whole host of other challenges. Maybe the leisure part will not play a big role in the near future, for me at least.

Truth be told, this was not all my idea but I am the one that decided to run with it. It started with an invitation to utilize the land for passive recreation and through subtle and not so subtle hints from the current owner of the farm that has remained in the same family since the 1860’s. These hints and the required volunteer hours prepping the farm grew into a new stage in the development of both the program and its Director. By the time I found myself trading my prized motorcycle for a farm tractor that could help with trail maintenance, I knew I had caught the fever. Throw in owner financing, the willingness to hold the property until we were ready to purchase it (after all, it was not for sale but could be IF I thought we could use it).

Speaking for myself, I can say that I have grown tired of the grind of city life. I have grown tired of the latest and greatest electronic equipment, the focus on glitz and glamour over form and function and the shallowness that sometimes comes with it all. Say what you will about nature, but when you walk up a trail and find a coyote or deer, you know where you stand some quick. Sometimes we yearn to overlap the boxes of life; at other times we may attempt to throw them all into a blender and see what it looks like.

So here we are an established counseling office in the suburbs who has decided to make a transition to a Therapeutic Farm community in the coming years. It would appear that there is not a lot of research available on the subject of making just such a transition. There are so many items that will need to be addressed, so many issues that will arise and so much money that will need to be raised and donated but I find myself strangely calm. It would appear that Doc Warren just bought the farm.

What have you done to merge your three boxes and what did it look like? Have you taken a large leap personally or professionally? Did it work or did it fail and would you do it again?

For me, the cadence of the tractor motor, the chirping of the birds and peepers, the sound of the water in the stream and the promise to future generations of a place where nature calms and cures is enough. I have seen the looks on my clients and volunteers faces when they emerge from the trails and I have seen the face of my mother when she emerges from her “nook by the brook” to tell me that there is much therapy in nature.

Will this be the start of a new and exciting phase or the start of a failed endeavor? Who knows and really who could say? Sometimes we must leave the safe confines of the “known knowns” and embrace the uncertainty of those infamous “unknown unknowns.” For me and my company, the journey begins today; bring your best work boots and wear a hat. I’m the guy on the Red Tractor, a square and compass nestled safely in my tool box.

Warren Corson III (Doc Warren) is a counselor and the clinical & executive director of a community counseling agency in central CT (www.docwarren.org).