Kyle Simpson: Health-Related Items for Every Bucket List
I’m glad to introduce a guest blogger, Kyle Simpson, who writes for Medical Billing and Coding Schools where you can find more information about a career in medical billing and coding. His following article give a more health-focused list of items for my bucket list. Enjoy!
Image source: www.yobazzip.com
By: Kyle Simpson
If you don’t know what a bucket list is then you have apparently been living under a rock for awhile (see 2007 movie The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman). It is basically a list of all the things that any given individual would like to accomplish before they die. Some popular entries include such diverse activities as: fall in love, start a business, write a book, join the Peace Corp, go skydiving, visit Paris (the city, not the heiress), attend a Mardi Gras celebration, save a life, and so on and so forth. Everyone’s bucket list is different, but they almost always involve travel, love, success, and excitement or adventure (and usually at least one thing that is truly crazy). However, these lists rarely include health-related items. Sadly, most people are not that concerned with becoming a truly healthy (physically, mentally, spiritually, or otherwise) individual before they die. But here are few health-conscious items that you may want to consider when making your own list.
- Learn yoga in India. This fusion of mind and body is a useful tool in two ways. It is a physical activity that keeps your body strong and flexible and it also helps to calm and focus your mind. So go to the source to learn ages-old techniques that will keep you centered while you marvel at the strange and beautiful world we live in.
- Survive in the wilderness. You don’t need to go Into the Wild to commune with nature. A simple camping trip will suffice. Just make sure you leave the bells and whistles at home (especially electronic devices). Forget the tent and opt for just a sleeping bag to truly appreciate the scope of the night sky. And bring your fishing gear instead of hauling a cooler full of meat. Fish is never as good as when you catch it fresh and fry it up immediately. Lastly, leave your Coleman stove and flashlights at home. Use your campfire to cook old school and read by the softly flickering firelight. You’ll return home relaxed and ready to take on the world.
- Go vegan. Try out a vegan diet for awhile. Learn to live without animal products (meat) or byproducts (dairy) and see how you feel. Even better: go organic. A diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts is going to make you feel alert and energized, especially if you know it lacks the chemicals and growth hormones found in many of the foods you normally consume. Give it a few weeks and see how it changes your life.
- Try alternative medicine. Do you really want to be a guinea pig for a drug company that sees you as an expendable loss margin? Homeopathic medicine has been around for thousands of years and in that time practitioners have learned a thing or two about improving and treating the human condition in a holistic and non-invasive manner. So instead of taking pain pills for your aching back, opt instead for acupuncture and herbal cleanses to flush out impurities that are cluttering up your body and get your chi back in alignment.
- Run a marathon. Okay, we’re ending with a tough one. Most of us don’t particularly like to run and even if we do, 20+ miles is a stretch. But the idea behind it is sound. You could scale it back to running a 5K, 10K, or half-marathon or spice it up by making it a triathlon, but the result is the same: you are setting a goal that will not only improve your strength, stamina, and overall physical health, but will also give you confidence and pride in yourself and your abilities. That’s something everyone should attain before they kick the bucket.
