Four Pillar Friday

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

This Week’s Quote:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Physical Wellness

What if you committed to a challenge that could shift your mindset, your habits, and your sense of purpose—all in just 93 days? The 9:03 Challenge isn’t about quick fixes; it’s about building resilience, clarity, and alignment across the Four Pillars: Physical, Mental, Financial, and Spiritual Wellness. Whether it’s dedicating 9 minutes to mindfulness, tracking how you invest your time, or pushing yourself with a physical challenge, the goal is transformation through small, consistent actions. True change doesn’t happen overnight, but in 93 days, you might just redefine what’s possible.

I’m planting this seed now—more is coming on this in a future Four Pillar Friday. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what challenges you’re taking on. What’s pushing you outside your comfort zone right now? Here are a few of mine. Here are a few of mine—some big, some small—but each one matters. And I know I’ll put in the work to try to get there.

Mental Wellness

Mikey and the Dragon is more than just a children’s book—it’s a lesson in courage, perspective, and the stories we tell ourselves. At its core, it’s about facing fears that seem larger than life, only to realize they were never as big as we imagined. For kids, it’s a powerful tale of bravery and resilience, teaching them that challenges shrink when we confront them. For adults, it’s a reminder of how often we let our minds create worst-case scenarios, building dragons that don’t exist. This book aligns perfectly with the Four Pillars, touching on mental resilience, emotional growth, and even spiritual wellness—because sometimes, the biggest battle we fight is within ourselves. A quick read with a lasting impact, Mikey and the Dragon is perfect for bedtime storytelling or as a gift for a young person who needs a little extra courage.

Financial Wellness

I recently read two beautifully written pieces by Ben Carlson:

• Some Things I’m Thinking About
• There Goes My Hero

I don’t know Ben personally, but I love his message. His writing has a way of capturing profound truths in a simple, accessible way—truths that we all know deep down but sometimes need to be reminded of. These two pieces hit me hard because they amplified something I’ve carried with me since 9/11—the idea that life is about both preparation and presence.

In Some Things I’m Thinking About, one line especially stood out:

“I was a saver from an early age through some combination of my upbringing and personality. I didn’t make much money right out of college so adopting frugality as a strategy was both necessary and easy. I was probably too obsessive about saving until my kids came along. That flipped a switch and made me realize I needed more balance in life between saving money for the future and spending money in the now.”

This hit me because, in a different way, 9/11 flipped that switch for me. Before that day, I thought about security in a way that made sense—work hard, save, and plan for the future. But after experiencing something so life-altering, I realized that saving for the future is only part of the equation. The other part is actually living in the present.

Ben’s second piece, There Goes My Hero, took that lesson even further. It captured the heartbreaking reality that time is our most valuable asset. We can’t control how much of it we get, only how we choose to spend it. And that’s a lesson I’ve tried to embody ever since.

A few things from his pieces that reinforced my thinking:

• Money is a tool, not the goal. Saving is important, but not at the cost of actually enjoying the time we have.
• Life happens in cycles—some painful, some beautiful. Whether it’s markets or personal loss, the hardest moments remind us why we should be intentional about how we spend our time.
• There’s no “later” guarantee. We don’t know how much time we or the people we love will get. That’s why finding middle ground—between preparation and presence—is everything.

These blogs may not have taught me something new, but they amplified my thoughts in a way that made me stop and reflect. I appreciate how he puts into words what so many of us feel but struggle to articulate.

Building for the future and living now—is at the heart of what I want to help others realize. Because in the end, wealth isn’t just about money. It’s about time, experiences, and the people we share them with.

Spiritual Wellness

If you’ve ever felt like the pursuit of success is pulling you further from happiness, this conversation is for you. In this episode of The Rich Roll Podcast, Arthur Brooks—a Harvard professor, behavioral scientist, and one of the world’s leading experts on fulfillment—dives deep into the science and spirituality of happiness. From his research-backed insights to his pilgrimages with the Dalai Lama, Arthur unpacks what truly leads to a meaningful life. This episode challenges the way we define success and offers a powerful reframe on what it means to live well. A must-listen for anyone looking to align achievement with authentic joy.

Stay Connected:
What steps—big or small—are you taking in physical, mental, financial, and spiritual wellness? Maybe you pushed your limits in a workout, made a mindful financial choice, or found time for reflection.

We’d love to hear! Reply, message us, or tag us—because real growth happens when we show up and share the journey. How are you integrating the Four Pillars this week?

Here’s to Living Richly,
The Journey Team