Move Your Mind - Nick Bracks

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mindfulness technique to this day.

      By the end of that course at university, I was comfortable speaking in front of groups of people and had made major progress in my mental health. I had also started to develop a passion for mental health and helping others, which sowed the first seeds of my work in this area.

      Around this time, I had been approached by modelling agencies and was regularly appearing in the media, social circuit and getting booked for modelling jobs. I think this gave people the idea that I was someone I was not. While I had made some self-improvement, the reality was that I was still scared and insecure and had no self-love. I was afraid of being myself and was desperately hoping for more attention, fame or admiration to justify my existence. It wasn't until my late 20s that I finally experienced a relationship. I had so desperately wanted it for so long but had never allowed it to happen. I always told myself no-one was good enough, but the reality was that I didn't feel like I was good enough.

      Then one day, I was invited to appear on the reality show Dancing with the Stars. Immediately, my competitive side kicked in and I said yes, also thinking that I could raise awareness and money for a charity I believed in (I wanted to help in mental health).

      To this day, I was more nervous than I have ever been in my life on the first episode of that show. I was probably one of the worst dancers in the history of the show, but I survived it, and ended up staying in until week seven of 10. I was also able to speak out about my own mental health publicly for the first time. More importantly, it was this that led me to being invited to speak in schools and share my story. Had I not overcome my fear of public speaking I wouldn't have been able to do the show and I would have missed the opportunity that changed my life.

      In those first school talks, I quickly saw the impact of simply speaking openly and authentically. Kids would come up and tell me it led to them getting help for the first time. It sparked something in me, and in the years since I have spoken more than 1000 times both in Australia and overseas, at schools, universities, companies, in the media, even doing two TEDx talks. It led to working with behaviour-change companies, charities, individuals and eventually starting my own seminar company and producing video and audio programs around mental wellbeing. My goal is simple: to make global change in mental health by whatever means are available to me.

      I moved into acting following the reality shows (I was also on a show called Celebrity Splash) with a completely misguided idea in my mind that I could become famous. Once I started attending acting classes, that thought was quickly dispelled and I ended up falling in love with the process of simply doing it.

      I did years of classes, at one point full time, and slowly began to grow more self-love and self-awareness as well as developing a clear focus and goal in my life. My goal to make global change in mental health was joined by another one: to land acting work. To be a good actor, you must understand yourself, get over your ego and have an open mind as to why people behave as they do. You have to learn not to judge and really understand what drove someone to become the person they are. It all resonated so clearly with me and I think acting is one of the best things you can do for personal development. It certainly has become something that continues to ground me and keep me focused on my work.

      At this stage, I felt like my life was finally on track. I was starting the new app business with a great team and investors on board. I was getting comfortable with acting, Neighbours was going well and I was also in a two-year relationship and in love for the first time in my life.

      But within two weeks, a chain of events completely out of my control knocked me for six. Things abruptly ended with my girlfriend, and one of my businesses was in turmoil. Despite spending two years creating the company, putting everything I had into it and launching it successfully, there was an internal issue out of my control that caused the business to break down.

      Suddenly, I was seeing years of my work go down the drain. Plus, I was dealing with my first heartbreak. I felt like it was going to break me and I didn't know where to turn or what to do. I was losing hope and finding it difficult to overcome the emotional pain.

      But rather than hide from the feelings and block them out, I decided to draw on what I had previously learned and embrace them. Yes, I felt like I'd lost control of everything, but I wanted to feel all the pain and use the time to reflect. So, I drew on my daily habits by embracing my exercise, meditation and alone time — things that were all fully in my control.

      Now, as I write this book, I look back on the car crash, the humiliation and all the dangerous situations I've put myself in, and I believe it's essential to face fears and go through pain to grow. Until you can learn to live with discomfort, I don't believe you can be the best version of yourself.

      Fear is important because it leads to happiness. Failure is important because it leads to success. You need to look at failure not as failure but as learning. If you can reframe your mindset to see two possible outcomes when approaching a new task — I will either learn something (instead of viewing it as failure) or I will achieve my goal — then you'll be in a better mindset and more willing to take risks and grow. I tell myself that it will be uncomfortable at the beginning but if I can stick to it, things will get easier. And they always do. Once you can grasp this, you'll

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