I looked at the required reading for this week. The overwhelming feelings were familiar, yet distant. Vague, yet far too real. Was it panic? Overwhelm? Annoyance? Resolve? As I skimmed the table of contents, looked at the chapter summaries, and started to read, d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu hit me. In fast-paced flashbacks as saw large colorful volumes: green microbiology, red anatomy and physiology, purple pharmacology, tan pathophysiology. The blue book covers, the academic tone, the case studies\u2014these aspects of the assigned readings for this week took me back to my undergraduate nursing program. Those where the years when I was on a first name basis with the university librarians. I clearly remember the late nights before tests as I thumbed through the textbook one last time, hoping any necessary information that I had forgotten would jump out and embed itself in my memory. These memories, although undoubtedly a bit skewed over the past almost twenty years, haunted me. I was not enjoying this walk down memory lane.<\/p>\n
I do not know exactly what triggered these specific threshold concept memories. They played out in my mind before I could even articulate what a threshold concept was. A side note, I have learned that a threshold concept is an idea that moves someone from one way of thinking to a new, expanded way of thinking about that idea[1]<\/a>. I did not enjoy the feelings that were initially elicited, but as I read, I could put \u201cKari, student nurse (SN)\u201d in the scenarios, concepts, stages, and see how formative and pivotal those years of learning were.<\/p>\n Reflecting on those flashbacks, I realized something. The subjects in those images represented a part of the liminal phase of my journey as a student nurse. The liminal space is the area of transition when things are confusing and not yet clear [2]<\/a>. Those subjects took a lot of work to memorize and learn. Understanding did not come easily and rarely immediately. In fact, most of my understanding happened much later in my training. Many times, I struggled to understand why this was relevant to me.\u00a0 Liminality includes uncertainty and what Meyer and Land[3]<\/a> would call \u201ctroublesome\u201d thoughts. For me, everything seemed muddled and hard.<\/p>\n My brain rapid fired forward to my last semester of undergraduate studies. By now, thanks to my librarian friends, I had developed better study habits, discovered how I learned best, and resolved to enjoy my last year of school. I remember a huge shift that semester. I loved it! II studied the least number of hours. I had the best grades. I enjoyed the learning journey. What had changed? Theory and practice had come together for me. I had learned how to be a good nursing student. I was taking full responsibility of my patients, while under supervision. Memorized terminology had taken form into diseases affecting real people. I was ready to start my career as a nurse. I had survived the liminal part of the threshold concepts and had crossed into a new, transformative way of thinking. I had arrived at the transition point from being Kari, SN to Kari, soon to be registered nurse (RN). This was my calling and I was proud to a part of the bedside forces.<\/p>\n As I relived these memories from almost two decades ago. What I experienced my last semester as a student nurse showed me that hard work, perseverance, and embracing the unknown is what will move you into an area of new and exciting possibilities. Liminality can be embraced with anticipation of what one will discover through the journey of transformation. These memories propelled me on to the readings for this assignment. I knew that new threshold concepts awaited me.<\/p>\n As I read, I had one more flashback. This one brought more pleasant memories and feelings. I was in my nursing leadership class at the end of my undergraduate studies. Three classmates and I presented on the Kurt Lewin\u2019s change theory. As I read through the process of threshold concepts, I kept picturing how it closely aligns with Lewin\u2019s ideas. Lewin\u2019s change theory is one that is widely used in nursing especially for organizational management. The concept is simple but effective. Phase one: unfreeze. This is when the recognition of the need for change occurs. This is the start of crossing the threshold. Phase two: change. This could also be called the liminal period, a time of transition that includes uncertainty and perhaps chaos. Phase three: refreeze. This is the point of transformation when the change becomes a permanently a different form [4]<\/a>. To help visual learners like me, we used popsicles to show Lewin\u2019s theory. The popsicles in their original state starting to unfreeze with a new idea, their state of change (liquid), and refrozen in a new shape and form. Little did I know that this threshold was being imprinted in my memory in preparation for transformation into Kari, RN, BSN, CRNP, MSN, FNP-BC, FNP-C, GFU doctoral student.<\/p>\n —————————<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Jan Meyer and Ray Land, \u201cThreshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Issues of Liminality,\u201d in Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge<\/em>, ed. Jan Meyer and Ray Land (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2006), 19.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Virginia Tucker, \u201cLearning Experiences and Liminality of Expertise,\u201d in Threshold Concepts in Practice<\/em>, ed. Ray Land, Jan Meyer, and Michael Flanagan, vol. 68, Educational Futures: Rethinking Theory and Practice (Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers, 2016), 95.<\/p>\n