Towards Decolonizing the Self: Nurse Educators' Engagement in Personal Mastery.

This article examines how nurse educators in South Africa can engage in personal mastery—a lifelong process of self-reflection, self-leadership, and continuous learning—to confront and decolonize their own internalized coloniality within nursing education. Drawing on a mixed-methods study, it highlights the importance of nurse educators taking ownership of their behaviors, knowledge, relationships with peers and students, and community roles to transform curricula and pedagogy toward inclusivity of African philosophies and epistemologies. The article emphasizes that decolonization begins with the self and requires institutional support for collaborative learning environments, continuous professional development, and self-care practices such as mindfulness to sustain educators' engagement in this challenging process. It advocates for nursing education institutions to become learning organizations that foster critical dialogue and collective responsibility in dismantling colonial legacies while promoting culturally safe and socially accountable nursing education.