Why now? Why during a pandemic?

We had literally just returned from our Colorado ski vacation. Went from wearing ski goggles and neck gaiters to dressing head to toe in personal protective equipment (PPE) and facing this “thing” that no one knew much about. We went from living a completely normal life to creating a space in our garage where we could decontaminate after coming home from work. Who knew that our last night in Steamboat hanging out with CO natives listening to Grateful Dead cover band at Schmiggity’s would be our last legit night of normalcy. What. A. Trip.

Fear took over in so many aspects and that fear spread like wildfire. Being that we both work in critical care, there was no escaping it for us. We were challenged by a new work environment, which all of a sudden consisted of delivering care that at the time so little was known about the virus, to experiencing massive shortages of PPE not knowing if we’d have the appropriate gear to do our job. When we weren’t working, we stayed home. And when we’d buy groceries, we were those people who wiped down every single grocery item before we would bring anything into the house. We knew we needed to start incorporating a state of balance to preserve our mental and physical health, otherwise we were going to lose against this pandemic.

Although this pandemic has taken away many things, we feel we have gained perspective. There has been a shift in priorities. All of those things we took for granted is challenging us to live without or at least live with differently. We want our years of education, experiences, challenges, travels and personal setbacks to help motivate, encourage and inspire others. Your health is the most important thing. You never know what tomorrow will bring, if the person standing beside you today will be there tomorrow and if you’ll be given another opportunity to accomplish something you’ve always dreamt of doing.

We have tried our best to live by our moto of SOTA, meaning “Seek Out the Awesome.” It’s easy to “Seek Out the Awesome” when traveling or doing fun things, but during a pandemic when people are isolated, quarantined, stressed and living in fear, “Seek Out the Awesome” is hard to do. The human body is equipped to handle bursts of stress but not at a prolonged state. We noticed the toll this prolonged state of stress was having, not just in ourselves but amongst others. We recognized that in order to live a life of seeking out the awesome meant living a life of wellness, hence the birth of 7NorthCo.