Move Your Mind. Nick Bracks

PREFACE

      I've been fortunate to work as a mental health advocate for the past decade, which came about following my own personal battle with depression and anxiety. This experience has enabled me to work with leading wellness experts, travel around the globe and speak to people from all walks of life — young and old, privileged and poor.

      As I began to lift back the layers, I saw that something was seriously missing. If daily life was becoming a struggle, where was the education that would help? Where were the tools to apply for a positive mindset? Add a global pandemic with anxiety and depression at record levels, and I questioned, what could be done on a practical level?

I wrote this book to fill that gap. To help you understand mental health in simple terms, and then move beyond that with a toolkit of practical daily techniques based on my experiences, learnings and expert insights. It was important to me that this book, like all the work I do in this area, also featured insights from experts, personalities and everyday people from all over the world. There's so much incredible knowledge out there and I've gone to great lengths to seek out the top thought leaders across many fields, such as psychologists, meditation and mindfulness experts, fitness professionals, doctors, advocates, sleep experts, nutritionists, philosophers and many more. It was also important to me that I spoke to personalities and everyday people and shared their stories. We learn from stories and by hearing about the trials and tribulations of these people we can find some common ground and realise that we're not alone and that we can overcome anything. You'll read insights from these experts, personalities and other inspirational people in the ‘Insights’ features scattered throughout the book. Many of them also share their habits, 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!