Four Pillar Friday
Your weekly guide to thriving in every aspect of life—Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Financial Wellness.

This Week’s Quote:
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” – Simone Weil

I can’t begin this without acknowledging that 9/11 was yesterday. The reason I’m sitting here today typing these words.

That reality is never far from me. It shapes why I write each week, why I reflect on the Four Pillars, and why I see time as the most valuable currency we hold. These thoughts aren’t abstract for me. They come from a deep place of gratitude for being here at all.

Anyway, here is what I have been thinking about that across the Four Pillars this week:

Physical Wellness

One theme from Dr. Jessica Knurick’s conversation with Rich Roll that really stood out: how much of our physical health gets lost in the noise of misinformation. We argue online about seed oils, artificial dyes, or supplements, but meanwhile, the real drivers of poor health…lack of movement, poor diet quality, unmanaged stress, and poor sleep…quietly erode our foundation.

The truth is, most of us don’t need a complicated plan or the newest trend. We need to return to the basics of metabolic health. The small, daily habits that compound into healthspan. Walk more. Eat more vegetables and fewer processed foods. Lift something heavy a few times a week. Get outside in the sun. Go to bed earlier in a dark, cool, quiet room. Take deep breaths and reflect.

These aren’t flashy. They won’t go viral on social media. But they work. And they’re available to nearly everyone.

Questions to bring it back to basics:

• Did I move my body today in a way that builds energy rather than drains it?
• Did I fuel myself with food that will help me thrive tomorrow, not just get through today?
• Is my environment set up for better sleep or distraction?
• Where am I letting stress live in my life instead of choosing a healthy outlet?

Physical wellness doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be consistent. The basics aren’t boring. they’re the foundation.

Mental Wellness

Our minds are crowded spaces. Harvard research estimates we spend nearly 47% of our waking hours distracted. And the numbers keep climbing. A recent study from Toll Free Forwarding found that the average American now spends 6 hours and 35 minutes a day on screens: that’s 2,403 hours a year, the equivalent of scrolling 86 miles annually.

It’s staggering. What used to be moments of pause…waiting in line, sitting in traffic, taking a breath between tasks…are now consumed by screens. We are overstimulated, inundated, and algorithm-driven platforms (increasingly fueled by AI) are designed to hijack our attention, keeping us in the loop of endless scrolling.

Johann Hari calls this “attention theft” in his book Stolen Focus. It’s not just that we’ve become less disciplined; it’s that our environments have been engineered for distraction. The result is reduced focus, shallower work, weaker relationships, and less space for clarity or creativity.

Mental wellness today isn’t about eliminating every distraction. It’s about reclaiming ownership of your attention. Setting boundaries, creating tech-free zones, and designing moments of stillness that allow you to be fully present. In a world where our default is fractured, presence itself has become a form of resistance.

Financial Wellness

One number that stopped me this week came from Fidelity’s 2025 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate. They project that a 65-year-old retiring this year will need $172,500 (after-tax) for health care alone. For a couple, that’s about $345,000 in lifetime health care expenses and a 4% jump from last year’s estimate of $168,000 per person (Fidelity, 2025).

It’s a reminder that financial wellness isn’t just about saving enough to retire. It’s about preparing for the realities that come with aging including rising health care costs, longer lifespans, and the desire to maintain not just life but healthspan.

Too often we treat health and money as separate categories, but they’re deeply connected. The choices we make around exercise, diet, stress, and sleep today don’t just shape our vitality. They also influence how much we’ll spend later. Every step, every night of good rest, every healthier meal is both a wellness investment and a financial one.

Financial planning, then, isn’t just about portfolios and projections. It’s about aligning resources to support a life where you have the energy, freedom, and resilience to keep living the moments that matter.

Spiritual Wellness

Ever since that day, each year on 9/11 I get texts and notes from friends and family. People telling me they’re thinking of me, praying for me. Even two decades later, I’m deeply grateful for their kindness in reaching out and remembering.

Three of my closest friends from high school and college usually send the same blunt text in our thread: “Glad you didn’t die that day.” Pretty direct. But I know exactly what they mean. Because on the other side of that phrase was the outcome so many families endured. And it’s shaped every choice I’ve made since.

I started writing these words for 9/11, but the truth is, these reminders aren’t just for one day a year. They’re for ordinary days…the Tuesdays in March, the Fridays in July, the random moments that make up a life.

So tomorrow morning, before the day gets away from you:

• Hug your spouse or kids.
• Tell someone you love them.
• Say thank you.
• Say hello to a stranger.
• Buy coffee for the person behind you.
• Take a few deeper breaths.

We are here. And we are fortunate to be here.

Here’s to Living Richly,
The Journey Team & The 9:03