Touch Grass: The Simplest Reset for Men to Do
Screen fatigue, nervous system overload, and a relentless pace — KW Wellness leader Josh Johnson shares the practical, nature-based tools that actually move stress through the body.
Touch Grass: The Simplest Reset for Men to Do
Nature, Movement, and the Daily Practices That Keep You Performing at Your Best
A conversation with KW Wellness founder Kimberly Guiry and KW Wellness leader Josh Johnson
There's an internet phrase that's been floating around for a few years: Touch Grass.
When someone is deep in a stress spiral — glued to their screen, running on empty, locked in a loop they can't seem to exit — someone eventually says it: You need to go touch grass.
It sounds like a joke. It isn't.
"Touch grass basically means: get outside, get off the internet," says KW Wellness founder Kimberly Guiry. "Reconnect with reality. Not the fake reality, not the social media reality. Step away from your desk. Back in the day, we used to say, go hug a tree."
Same idea. Different era. And according to KW Wellness leader Josh Johnson — entrepreneur, retreat facilitator, and men's health advocate — it might be the single most underutilized performance tool in real estate.
Your Nervous System Is Keeping Score
Real estate doesn't pause. The deals, the clients, the market swings, the financial pressure — it's constant. And most agents are running that gauntlet while staring at a screen, absorbing information, and managing other people's emotions.
What that does to your nervous system over time isn't dramatic. It's slow. A background hum of cortisol. A baseline of tension you stop noticing because it just becomes normal.
"The longer I went, the more I paid attention to the mental, physical, and spiritual parts of things," Josh says. "I got to the point where I could not go without my practices — because I felt like a crazy person if I wasn't balanced."
That imbalance isn't weakness. It's what happens when your output consistently exceeds your recovery. The body keeps score, even when you're not.
The Reset That Doesn't Require an App
Josh's prescription for a stressed-out agent is almost frustratingly simple:
Go outside. Leave your phone behind. Move.
"Turn your phone off. Leave it behind. Go outside. Move your body in whatever way feels good. Connect to your breath."
That's the protocol. No app required. No equipment needed.
What makes it work isn't mystical — it's physiological. Movement brings in fresh oxygen. It raises your heart rate in a controlled way, which signals safety to a nervous system that's been running in low-grade fight-or-flight. And it creates something that's hard to get when you're always connected:
Distance.
"It's hard to see the role in our own stress when we're just in it all the time," Josh explains. "If I go outside and leave my phone and start to move and connect to the breath, I start to get distance from that inner voice. I can see: maybe I'm causing some of my own stress here. Maybe I can just let it go."
Movement doesn't just clear the head — it physically moves stress through the body. The tension you've been holding has somewhere to go.
Screen Fatigue Is Real — and It's Compounding Your Stress
One of the underappreciated drivers of agent burnout isn't the deals — it's the screens.
The constant context-switching. The never-ending notifications. The inability to truly disconnect because everything — client texts, market alerts, social media — lives in the same device.
"I don't know if it's the screens," Josh says, "but I'm seeing a lot of isolation, and I'm seeing men reaching for outlets that don't necessarily feed them for the long run."
When the screen becomes the default stress response — scrolling instead of recovering, consuming instead of resting — the nervous system never gets a real break. The fatigue compounds. And the things that would actually help (movement, nature, stillness) feel increasingly out of reach.
The antidote is intentional disconnection. Not forever. Just enough to let your system breathe.
The Breath Tool You Already Have
For moments when going outside isn't possible — between back-to-back showings, sitting in your car before a difficult call — Josh points to the most portable reset available:
Breathwork.
"Close your eyes. Count your inhales and your exhales. Follow them all the way down — in and out of your nose."
That's it. Sixty seconds. In the car, at your desk, in a parking lot before an open house.
Kimberly explains why it works: "The breath is a natural regulator for stress, heart rate, and mental clarity. When we focus on it, it changes our brain pattern. It helps with that fight-or-flight response and settles your system to prepare for what's next."
You don't need a meditation app. You don't need silence. You just need to notice your breath and slow it down.
Build the Practices Before the Crisis Hits
The most important shift in Josh's teaching isn't about what to do during a breakdown — it's about building the daily practices that prevent you from getting there.
"Cultivating practices in your life that help you stay balanced when things are coming in hot," he says. "We're not in control of the uncertainty. But I am in control of the practices I do daily that help me stay grounded so I can deal with it."
This is the difference between reacting and responding. One is triggered. The other is trained.
The practices don't need to be elaborate:
- A 10-minute walk outside without your phone
- Three slow nasal breaths before your next call
- A few minutes in nature — your backyard, a park, anywhere with trees
- Any movement that gets you out of your head and into your body
Small. Consistent. Non-negotiable.
"I just add myself to the calendar," Kimberly says. "It's okay to time-block for yourself. It could be nature, it could be the gym — even just opening the front door and going for a walk."
What Josh Builds in the Outdoors
Josh has spent years designing experiences — retreats, group gatherings, outdoor sessions — that use nature as the primary tool for performance recovery and human connection.
"I love to provide the space where it's pushing the limits a bit — physically, mentally, spiritually — and giving people time to tap into themselves and see what they're truly capable of."
He grew up camping by the river, raised by what he calls "a long lineage of hippies." Nature isn't a wellness trend to him. It's where he learned that the most powerful performance tool doesn't require a subscription.
"I want to bring that to everyone."
Because the most effective reset isn't the newest biohack or the most optimized morning routine. It's older than all of it.
Go outside. Leave your phone. Move your body. Breathe.
Touch grass.
Josh Johnson is a KW Wellness leader, men's health advocate, and retreat facilitator. He leads the monthly KW Men's Health virtual series and creates group and individual wellness experiences rooted in nature and whole-person performance.
To connect with Josh or attend an upcoming session, visit the KW Wellness Events page.