We’ve been keeping quite rightly to ourselves over the last 8 months – it’s been all kinds of things from incredibly sweet to grounding to frustrating and lonely to hopeful. We run the gamut from day to day and sometimes from hour to hour and from breathe to breathe.
It’s been a lot, like ya’ll are aware of from your own lived experiences.
The first 3 months were strict – not really leaving our neighborhood… and then, we opted outside from day trips that wouldn’t require any stops. We simplified our gear, refreshed our study on leave no trace practices, packed the freshly baked sourdough and hit the road Covid-style. We ventured to the beach for solid distancing and reconnecting with nature. From there, we became efficient dispersed campers . . . we cherished the sweet time away from our little home with little to no impact or engagement on the greater community. The quick trips to sleep in the woods, on the mountainside, or to run and be wild with the ocean waves. To laugh, to enjoy each other in a new environment, to relax, to dream….
We hammocked. Like, a lot. To the point of Diwas providing a pretty strong critique of the hammock that we played in from our beginning of hammock-ing days together. From there… he dove all in to the study of hammocks, the study of camping hammocks, the study of sales platforms, to re-engineering this thing to create something better.
From here on out, every little PNW escape had purpose : tests, prototypes and dreams… dreams of business names, dreams of how we were going to be – not pivoting, because photography is still entreprenuerial love #1 – but adopting another endeavor as, well, times are different now.
Way different. We adapt. We evolve. We reflect.
In all the years before, the response to change and our personal evolution was “Shanti, shanti.” And Diwas’ reminders to those he loved around him, to “Be Shanti.” It was the way we certainly were in the beginning of our relationship in Nepal and in the honeymoon stages of being in the US. Today, there seems to be a call out for us to revisit this stance. It’s a solid stance, being shanti. Maybe it’s more of a journey than a stance.
We breathe. We play. We reconnect. Being shanti is not static.
Something “shanti” was happening. And it was going to include the great outdoors, hanging out (quite literally) and enjoying the peace. Breathing, playing, reconnecting. We shared many conversations by the fireside, under the stars, with a neat whiskey in hand. . . and then, before we knew it, Shanti Life Outfitters arrived.
Our first product being a badass camping hammock with a shelter – The Purna System, or complete in Sanskrit. It’s been super fun to re-develop this love of nature, of play, or rebuilding something together . . .and reimagining how we can incorporate good into this world – both in the Pacific North West and in Nepal, that focuses on the environment, getting outside, and finding your peace. Being shanti and all that.
So… we have a few asks:
- Check us out – we’re selling on Amazon.
- Share with me your favorite environmental organizations. We’re taking names for orgs doing good in both the PNW and Nepal. (bonus if they incorporate youth or BIPOC into their missions for global change.)
- Can you feel my gratitude for you hanging around to finish this post?! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
