Some books begin with an idea. Others begin because someone simply needs to survive.

That was the case for Nikki Everett.

What started as a recommendation from her psychologist to begin journaling eventually became Uncomfortably Comfortable, a memoir that shares her journey through Complex PTSD and the long road back to healing. During our conversation, Nikki opened up about workplace violence, losing her sense of identity, and how writing became something much bigger than she ever expected.

Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/oTAlEtqErzs

Nikki spent years working in palliative care, mental health, and the prison system before experiencing a violent incident that changed her life. After witnessing a prisoner stabbing, she developed Complex PTSD and found herself struggling with nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, and the loss of the career she had worked so hard to build.

Like many people facing trauma, she wasn't interested in journaling at first. But after one particularly difficult night, she picked up a notebook and began writing.

She didn't stop for nearly two years.

Eventually, her psychologist looked at what Nikki had written and told her something she hadn't considered.

"This is a book."

That simple observation transformed pages of personal reflection into a resource that has now reached readers around the world.

One of the things that stood out during our conversation was Nikki's reason for writing.

She wasn't trying to become an author.

She was searching for a book that explained what she was experiencing.

Most of the resources she found felt clinical and difficult to connect with. Instead, Nikki chose to write from lived experience, using stories, metaphors, and plain language so readers could see themselves in the pages instead of feeling like they were reading a medical textbook.

Her goal wasn't to tell people what trauma looks like.

Her goal was to help them believe healing was possible.

Throughout the episode, Nikki talked about what she calls the "gifts of trauma."

One of the most powerful images she shared was the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold instead of hiding the cracks.

The repaired piece isn't considered damaged.

It's considered more valuable because of everything it has survived.

That philosophy became part of Nikki's own healing journey.

Instead of seeing herself as someone permanently broken, she slowly began seeing herself as someone who had survived something incredibly difficult and still had something meaningful to offer others.

That shift changed everything.

Near the end of our conversation, I asked Nikki what advice she would give someone who feels stuck.

Her answer was beautifully simple.

She said the biggest turning point came when she stopped seeing herself as the victim of her story and started seeing herself as its hero.

Accepting her diagnosis didn't define her.

It freed her.

Instead of spending energy pretending everything was okay, she began embracing both her strengths and her struggles. That acceptance allowed her to move forward with honesty, compassion, and purpose.

Sometimes healing doesn't begin when our circumstances change.

Sometimes it begins when the story we tell ourselves changes.

Website
http://sheismental.com.au/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/sheismental_ptsd

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nicoleeverettauthor

Purchase Uncomfortably Comfortable
https://sheismental.com.au/collection/p/uncomfortably-comfortable-printed-version

Audiobook
https://promocards.byspotify.com/api/share/0d332a09-6aa9-455f-8911-5ba2bff2b096

• Writing can become an unexpected path toward healing.
• Journaling may uncover stories worth sharing with others.
• Trauma does not have to define the rest of your life.
• Simple, honest storytelling often connects more deeply than clinical language.
• Changing how you see yourself can completely change your healing journey.
• Your experiences, even the painful ones, may become the very thing that helps someone else.

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