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From Calling to Collapse to Wholeness: What Nurses Can Learn from the Global Flourishing Study



When the Calling Meets the Crisis: A Nurse’s Journey

Most nurses didn’t choose this profession for the paycheck or the prestige. They came because they felt called. Because something inside said:


“This is where I’m meant to be.” 

“I want to make a difference.” 

“I want to be with people in their most vulnerable moments.”


But for many, the noble calling has collided with a painful reality.


Bullying from colleagues. Systemic understaffing. Burnout. Patient deaths. Crushing documentation. A culture that praises resilience but punishes rest. And somewhere along the way, the meaning that once inspired them feels just out of reach.

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If that’s your story—or the story of someone you love—you are not alone.


And more importantly, your exhaustion, your grief, and your need for care are all legitimate.



What It Really Means to Flourish


A new wave of global research is helping us see more clearly what well-being really looks like—not just for patients, but for caregivers, too.


The Global Flourishing Study (GFS) is one of the most ambitious efforts ever undertaken to understand human well-being. A collaboration between Harvard University, Baylor University, Gallup, and the Center for Open Science, the study tracks over 200,000 people across 22 culturally diverse countries over five years.


And what it’s finding is deeply relevant to nurses.


To flourish is to live in a state where all aspects of your life are going well—physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. It’s not about perfection, but about possibility.


The study uses the Secure Flourishing Index (SFI) to explore six universal areas of human well-being:

Wholistic Wellbeing: A Balanced Approach Integrating Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, Social, Vocational, and Financial Health.
Wholistic Wellbeing: A Balanced Approach Integrating Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, Social, Vocational, and Financial Health.


  1. Mental & Physical Health (physical)

  2. Meaning & Purpose (vocational)

  3. Character & Virtue (emotional)

  4. Close Social Relationships

  5. Religious Beliefs & Spirituality

  6. Financial & Material Stability


These dimensions are pursued not in isolation but in connection. And while most conversations around well-being focus on individual self-care, the GFS reminds us that flourishing also includes our community and environment.


In other words, your workplace, support system, and sense of purpose matter.



What the Global Flourishing Study Tells Us About Nurses


Here’s what stands out from the research:

  • Flourishing is multidimensional—you can be thriving in one area and depleted in another.

  • Meaning and purpose matter deeply—but they’re not enough when systems fail to support you.

  • Spirituality and relationships are essential for resilience across cultures.

  • Mental and physical health are tightly interwoven—and both suffer under chronic stress.

  • You deserve care, too. Not just once in a while, but regularly, intentionally, and wholistically.


“Flourishing includes the contexts in which a person lives… The community’s well-being is a part of one’s own flourishing.” — Global Flourishing Study, Nature Human Behaviour.



You Are Not Broken—The System Is


The pain you’ve experienced in healthcare—especially over the past few years—is not because you’re not strong enough. It’s because you were never meant to carry this alone.


Nurses are often taught to show up for everyone else, no matter the cost. But at CODE YOU, we believe the healer also needs healing. That’s why we’re creating spaces for nurses to reconnect with their own wholeness—body, mind, and spirit.



🌿 Introducing: Soul Care for Nurses


A New 12-Hour CE Course for Wholistic Well-Being and Spiritual Renewal Starting June 13 | 2nd Thursdays Monthly | 7:30 PM CT (Live on Zoom)


This is not another “wellness workshop” or burnout seminar.


This is sacred space.


Over 12 months, you'll receive:

✅ 12 ANCC-accredited CE hours

✅ A deep dive into the six domains of flourishing—through a nursing lens 

✅ Tools for processing grief, stress, and disillusionment 

✅ Practices for reconnecting with your purpose and spirituality 

✅ Guided reflections from spiritual care professionals 

✅ A community of nurses who “get it”—and hold space for healing




Take the Harvard Wellbeing Assessment


Curious about where you stand in your own flourishing journey? The Harvard Wellbeing Assessment, rooted in the same research behind the Global Flourishing Study, gives you a snapshot of how you’re doing in the areas that matter most.




Because You Matter, Too


If you’re a nurse who’s felt the weight of your calling—if you’ve stayed late, held pain that wasn’t yours, cried behind a mask, and wondered where your own well-being went—this is your invitation.


You are not alone. You are not failing. You are worthy of care, too.

Join us. Let’s rediscover what it means to flourish—not just in theory, but in real, lived experience.

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