Pillar 1: Physical Resilience

I grew up before phones lived in our pockets; generally free of distraction, and certainly no social media to pull me into hours of doom scrolling. If I wanted to call a friend, I memorized their number and stood in the kitchen tethered to a wall phone. When my kids ask, “What did you even do in the 1900s?” I laugh and tell them I played outside, broke things and tried to fix them, explored woods with friends, and rode my bike everywhere.

Life looks different now. I earn a living at a keyboard. A few years ago, I learned the hard way that movement and basic health aren’t optional. Sedentary office work brought deeper issues to light, tougher fitness tests during my reservist years, and lab numbers I didn’t like. My fix was too aggressive, and I ended up with overuse injuries. That forced me back to square one: slow rebuild, simple body‑weight work, fewer sugary snacks, consistent sleep. Within a year, my labs looked like I was 20 again, sleep improved, and I had more good days than bad.

That was the start of my physical resilience journey.

Today I’m more than ten years into that journey and want to share concepts and tools I’ve found helpful. Some come from my medical background as an RN (check out my LinkedIn if you’re curious), some from military experience and training, and some from general life experience learned the hard way.

I like to think most of this is common sense, but there’s enough need that I felt compelled to write it in the hope others might benefit.

What physical resilience is

Physical resilience is the quiet discipline of showing up for your body so your mind can do its best work. It’s the practice of choosing small, honest actions today that make you harder to knock off course tomorrow. It’s learning to listen, to respond, and to recover.

At its core, physical resilience is alignment. It’s what you value and how you choose to support your body. For most of us it looks like simple choices, planned and repeated. I break it into four parts:

• Nutrition is the daily input that supports your future self.

• Sleep is the body’s recovery and maintenance time.

• Fitness is the capacity for work you build through repetition and progressive overload.

• Environment is the stage you set so the better choice is the easy one.

These overlap. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

The focus isn’t perfection. It’s momentum, consistency, and direction.

I’ll share insight in upcoming newsletters where we’ll get into more of the detail behind each physical focus area.

Ultimately, the goal of building physical resilience is to help you show up more consistently for yourself, your family, the people who depend on you, and your work. And to give you the confidence to take on more than just the daily challenges.

Security through resilience starts with a solid foundation of daily choices that are small enough to maintain and meaningful enough to matter.

The next four posts

We’ll dive into the four areas of personal physical resilience with practical takeaways and resources that have helped me or improved outcomes.

Nutrition

Healthy routines raise your baseline. Simple nutrition choices improve heart, metabolic, and brain health. What you put into your body today shapes how it functions tomorrow.
What to try now:

• Document everything you eat and drink for one week.

• Add protein and fiber to each meal; cut back on sugary snacks.

Sleep

Sleep is the original performance enhancer. Most adults do best with seven or more hours. Helpful habits: set a sleep window, keep the room cooler and darker, and turn off screens at least 30 minutes before bed.
What to try now:

• Use a bedside alarm clock and leave your phone outside the bedroom for one week.

• Write a one‑sentence note each morning on how you feel.

Fitness

Moderate movement plus simple strength work is enough. Aim for about 30 minutes a day and two strength sessions each week. This builds whole‑body capacity and improves stress tolerance.
What to try now:

• Do 10 body‑weight squats (within your ability) every two hours while working.

• Track your total squats each day for one week.

Environment

Your space should make healthy choices easier, not require hazard duty pay. Clean water, fresh air, clear walkways, good lighting, electrical safety, and fire detection all reduce common risks. Adapt to your environment to benefit from what it offers rather than endure unnecessary risks to your safety.
What to try now:

• Check your fire extinguishers; replace if they’re expired or nonfunctional.

• Take a seven‑minute walk outside every day and note when you did it.

Do one thing today

Pick one step from any section and do it now. Send yourself a two‑line note on what you did and how it felt. Documentation is a key theme in resilience. It shows where you are versus where you started and helps you spot areas for change.

Small wins compound over time.

Stay safe out there.

Quick references

• Physical activity fact sheet

• Physical Activity Guidelines.

• About Sleep and Sleep Facts

• Understanding how exercise affects the body

• Huberman Lab

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