By Romina Richardson, NeuroRise Health — Psychotherapist, Coach & Neurofeedback Practitioner
Why Flourishing Matters Now
After years of chronic stress, overstimulation and emotional firefighting, many of us have become experts at coping — holding it together, showing up, and pushing through even when our nervous system is running low. We’ve normalised tension, tiredness and the subtle physical symptoms of long-term stress: disrupted sleep, nervous energy, irritability, mental fog.
But as we move into 2026, something is shifting. People aren’t just asking how to manage stress. They’re asking a more honest, quietly radical question:
How do I actually want to feel?
Across every age group, we’re seeing a cultural move away from pure survival and towards deeper emotional wellbeing — not just reducing stress, but understanding what helps us feel safe, connected and grounded again.
This is the heart of flourishing. And it’s not about perfection or forced positivity. It’s what naturally emerges when the stress response system softens, the body stops bracing, and the mind has enough space to access creativity, connection and meaning.
Below, Romina explores the psychology and nervous-system science of flourishing — and why this might be the most important mental-health shift we make in 2026.
The Art of Flourishing: Moving Beyond Coping in 2026
Coping vs. Flourishing — The Shift in How We Want to Feel
For many people, recent years have been about coping, managing stress, and getting through. While these skills are essential, more people are now asking a different question, how do I actually want to feel? This is where flourishing becomes relevant. Flourishing is not constant happiness, but the experience of meaning, connection, and vitality alongside life’s challenges (Seligman, 2011).
Why Chronic Stress Limits Our Capacity to Thrive
From my psychotherapeutic perspective, I understand that flourishing is closely linked to nervous system regulation. When the nervous system is chronically stressed, the brain prioritises survival over pleasure, creativity, and connection. This limits our emotional range and makes thriving difficult, regardless of positive intentions and efforts (McEwen, 2017).
Regulation and the Conditions that Allow Flourishing to Emerge
When regulation improves, the brain becomes more flexible and open. States associated with flourishing, such as curiosity, gratitude, engagement, and connection, naturally emerge when the nervous system feels safe enough to access them (Siegel, 2012). Yet these states cannot be forced through mindset alone.
What Flourishing Looks Like in Therapy
In therapy, flourishing often appears subtly. Clients tell me about moments of ease, enjoyment, letting go and stepping into authenticity when these were all previously never felt. They make choices aligned with their personal values rather than fear, which tells me that there has been an increase in a brilliant predictor of wellbeing called psychological flexibility; adaptability to life’s endless surprises (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010).
Psychological Tools that Support Flourishing
Psychological tools that support flourishing can be integrated into daily life. These include the ability to cultivate self-compassion, strengthening meaningful relationships, engaging in purposeful activity, and learning to notice and savour positive experiences in the moment. These practices are most effective when supported by nervous system regulation, allowing wellbeing to be experienced rather than performed (Seligman, 2011).
Flourishing in 2026 — A Shift Toward Safety and Full Living
As we move into 2026, flourishing may be less about doing more and more about feeling safe enough to live fully. It is not a destination, but a capacity that grows as the nervous system learns it is no longer just surviving.
How to Build a Nervous-System Environment Where Flourishing Can Grow
Flourishing isn’t a mindset you try to force - it’s a physiological state your body becomes able to access when the nervous system feels supported rather than overwhelmed. Chronic stress keeps the sympathetic nervous system switched on, narrowing your emotional range and keeping you in coping mode. Regulation reopens the system. It makes space for presence, connection and psychological flexibility - the foundations of long-term mental wellbeing.
This is why simple relaxation techniques, grounding exercises, slow breathing techniques, gentle movement and small acts of self-compassion matter. They don’t “fix” stress - they soften the internal environment so deeper healing and resilience can grow.
Flourishing doesn’t ask you to become a new person in 2026.
It asks one thing:
“What would life feel like if your nervous system wasn’t always bracing?”
When safety increases, stress reduces, and the body no longer defaults to survival, flourishing becomes less of an aspiration and more of a natural human state — one that many of us are finally ready to reclaim.
