Foundations of health and identity

I chose Foundations of Health and Identity because this was the week that made everything click for me. It was the first time I saw health not as a checklist or the absence of illness, but as something I actively build through my choices, my mindset, and the way I understand myself. The idea that health includes balance, meaning, relationships, habits, and emotional grounding felt very real to me as a student nurse trying to keep up with life and school (Astle et al., 2024).

Learning about the Health Belief Model was uncomfortable at first because it made me face my own patterns honestly. When I applied concepts like perceived barriers, cues, and self-efficacy to myself, I realized that I often wanted to change habits without truly supporting the conditions that make change possible. I used to blame myself for inconsistency, but current research shows that people adopt healthier behaviors when their environment, beliefs, and internal confidence align, not when they simply “try harder” (Carpenter et al., 2023). This understanding helped me give myself grace instead of shame.