What is A Vital Life?

Let me start by introducing myself; my name is Daniel Keadle.  I'm currently a senior in Human Biology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.  Starting in July 2014 I will be attending chiropractic school at Life University in Marietta GA.  When I was in middle school I started taking regular visits to the chiropractor and once I got to high school I started realizing that the idea of "chiropractic" was much more than "cracking backs" (a term I really hate by the way).  Chiropractic is all about restoring our bodies and minds to a condition in which we can have the vital life that we were designed for.  I wanted to start this blog as a way to share with you my journey towards discovering exactly what it means to create and maintain this vital life that I think we all desire.


So what exactly is a Vital Life?

Well, the dictionary defines "vital" as full of energy, lively, spirited, vivacious, exuberant, dynamic, vigorous...I could keep going.  We live in a world where taking monthly or even weekly trips to the doctor or the pharmacy is assumed to be normal.  We think that pains and aches just mean "I'm getting old."  It's normal for a 40 year old to have heart attack.  It's normal for a 5th grader to have obesity-related diabetes.  A child getting a new ear-infection every month is "just the way kids are".
I couldn't disagree more and I truly believe that we have accepted lies about what should be normal.  This norms that we have accepted couldn't be farther from the vital life that we are designed to have!  If you ever get a chance to study biology or anatomy, you will quickly realize that our bodies are incredibly designed and are incredibly efficient.  Just think about the fact that our bodies have the ability to maintain an internal temperature of 98.2 degrees with only 0.7 degrees of variation, almost no matter what our external environment is like.  Then, when we encounter something that makes us sick, our body can raise it's temperature to a degree that's perfect for killing off any infectious agents while still protecting our internal organs, and then return to 98.2 as soon as the infection is gone.  It's pretty crazy if really you think about it.

Our generation will probably live longer than any other so far and it's time for us to decide how we're going to live our historically long lives.  As Dr. Guy Riekeman says, "Most of your generation is going to live to be 100 years old.  So it's not a question of whether or not you'll live that long, but what the last 50 years are going to be like."  Will we choose to be medicated and bed-ridden 100 year olds, or will we be 100 year olds who go on runs in the park every morning and play with our great or even great-great grandchildren? My hope is that everyone I know could live a life that reflects the latter.

Having a vital life is something that is sustainable and attainable for every person, regardless of your social, economic or even genetic background.  My hope is that this blog will be an avenue for me and hopefully some of my friends to show you what a vital life is, how to obtain it, and how to keep it.  We will discuss everything from nutrition to chiropractic to spirituality.  If it happens inside your body or affects your body in any way, we'll probably talk about it.

Keep coming back and invite your friends to come along with us too!

-Daniel