learnings and motivational tools — look out for sections headed ‘Move Your Mind’.
I also share with you my own tools in the ‘Move Your Mind with Nick’ sections. The tools I share are ones I use in my own work, and they've proven successful for thousands of people around the world. If you can move your mind, you can master your inner world and live life on your terms.
I acknowledge that doing what is best for you is hard in the short term. It involves discipline and routine — things you may find confronting and challenging. While working through this book, remember that it's okay to be vulnerable. It’s okay to cry, show emotion and not have all the answers when you want them. We’re all human and we all feel things. It’s okay to fail. Often, failure teaches us the biggest lessons in life. I don't want you to be like me when I was young: no tools, no knowledge, silently suffering.
Understand that there is always help — always — should you seek it. Make sure you have good people around you who you can check in with, and no matter how difficult things are, never neglect what keeps you happy and healthy, such as getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, and seeing friends and loved ones. Remember that short-term discomfort will lead to long-term, sustainable health.
Push your ego aside and value your friends, family and those you come across in day-to-day life. Nurture them and treat people how you want to be treated. It's taken me my whole life to learn that true happiness comes from within, and until you can get off that treadmill (which I still often find myself on) you won't ever find peace.
Now more than ever, in our post-COVID world, you don't need more wealth, more validation or more social media ‘likes’. You also don't need to be let down by a system that doesn't offer enough support — because seeking support can be too expensive and, ultimately, exhausting.
Like many before me, I've taken those hard-learned lessons and turned my life around. My mission is to make global change in mental health, recognising that we need to do more work as a society. I believe we need to embed education around mental health into the schooling system, into parenting, into universities and into businesses. I also think it should eventually be free, in much the same way as we can receive free treatment when we break a leg. It should be a fundamental part of what we get taught, and not just a resource for the elite few.
This book is divided into four parts. Part I sets the mental health landscape. You'll learn about the big picture: how mental health is affecting you, your children and economies around the world. Then, in part II, I break down mental health symptoms and conditions, and provide some examples of how I've worked with people on their journeys. This part of the book also gives some tips on starting the conversation about mental health.
In part III, I introduce you to my four practical pathways, which are the key to better mental health. Each one is designed to help you create preventative behaviours using real examples, tasks and stories to show you how others manage their challenges and conditions. Best of all, you can dip in and out of each one, taking what you need, when you need it.
Part IV brings it all together. It's the glue that packages up the learnings into long-term systems and habits so you can sustain the practical stuff and live your best life. You'll learn to use three actionable steps to train your mind and make lifelong changes. There are worksheets and tools you can use to put all the knowledge you collected in parts I to III into action — simply pick what speaks to you most. The worksheets can be downloaded, so you can use them again and again.
You have the power to make change yourself … now. This is a book about self-love and guiding you to work on yourself. For those of you with mental health conditions — young people, older people, children, teachers, parents and everyone in between — I encourage you to find what will work for you within these pages. Use this book as a guide, an educational tool and a motivator to find your place while learning what options are available to you. This is just the beginning; it all starts now. If you're willing to put in the work, I'm ready to show you the way. Get ready to Move Your Mind!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick Bracks is a storyteller who has dedicated his adult life to creating positive conversations around mental health.
An acclaimed mental health advocate and successful multi entrepreneur, Nick has delivered 1,000+ mental health seminars around the globe, including two TED talks. This came about following his own personal and public battle with mental health and wellbeing.
Creative at heart, Nick is an actor with several films to his name and a two-year role on the well-loved Australian soap, Neighbours. Acting, along with exercise and meditation, is Nick's foundation for vibrant mental health.
Nick now spends his time advocating for mental health, speaking and interviewing, creating content and acting. His professional life and personal development are perfectly intertwined.
He lives between Australia and the United States.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing this book has been harder and more time consuming than I could have ever imagined … but, like most things that are challenging, it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It is the culmination of more than a decade of work as a mental health advocate, speaking more than 1,000 times all over the world; a varied career across the entertainment industry, along with starting multiple businesses; a lifetime of lessons learnt, experiences had and places travelled; and, most importantly, the amazing people I have met through the journey, from family, friends, collaborators, random encounters and everyone in-between.
There are too many people to personally thank but hopefully this does it justice.
A big thank you goes to all of the personalities and experts who were generous and kind enough to lend their time, knowledge and expertise (as you will read throughout the book). I am so fortunate to be able to connect and collaborate with such talented and inspiring people from all over the world. And a huge thank you to the Mental Health Charity One in Five for the ongoing support.
I would like to say thank you to Annie Reid from Atrium Media (www.atrium.media) for her incredible support and guidance in writing this book. I feel so lucky to have met and worked with her. She is an amazing person and someone I now consider a friend.
To my close friends (you all know who you are!) — thanks for always being there for me, supporting me and being unconditional. As you will read in the book, I feel very fortunate to have such an amazing support group. And a special thanks to Vincent De Luca and his extended network for the early support in this book.
I want to say a major thank you to Wiley for believing in me and publishing this book. They have been there every step of the way and have been an absolute joy to work with. They were the publisher I always wanted to work with and I couldn't have done it without them.
And finally to my family…
To my Mum, Terry and Dad, Steve — thank you for being the best parents in the world. Thank you for being amazing role models, teaching us about values and for genuinely being the
