Читать книгу Move Your Mind - Nick Bracks - Страница 17

Following Dancing with the Stars, I launched my first business, an underwear label called underBRACKS. At the time, I was booking a lot of underwear modelling work, had just finished my degree and wanted to start my own business. After all the media attention from being on television, people joked that I should start my own underwear label. Eventually I thought, why not? I did it on a whim and learned and made mistakes as I went along. We sold them online and eventually did a deal with retailer Myer. It was a really valuable first foray into the business world. Since then, I've opened a café in Melbourne's CBD called The Lobby 601, co-founded a nutrition company, started a wellness app called Happy Waves, and launched the Move Your Mind organisation and podcast, of which I'm very proud.

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.

As a result, I was lucky enough to land a role on the iconic Australian television program Neighbours on and off for two years. I have since been cast in an Australian feature film and moved to Vancouver and the United States to audition for American roles. Regardless of whether it takes off as a career, I know I'll always act for myself. It's become a passion and I really believe that purpose and passion are two of the most important things for your mental health. If you have a daily purpose and are doing things you are passionate about, then the end goal doesn't matter. The only thing you can ever control is what you do right now, so not enjoying the process amounts to not enjoying life. All you ever have is right now.