Ben Lyne is a runner and for over 2 years he kept having the thought that he could use those regular runs to inspire and motivate others…by holding a sign while he ran that says ‘I Believe In You’. He finally got the courage to act on those thoughts a couple of years ago, and the reaction and feedback he’s received has been tremendous. He’s had many let him know that through this simple act of service he’s lifted them, encouraged them, and even saved their life.
Ben’s story is an inspiring reminder to me that the world is filled with people who need validation, love, and lifting…and it really doesn’t take much to give it to them and to make a difference in their lives. Listen to the podcast to hear more about Ben’s story, a little bit of the logistics behind what he does, and the many people he’s motivated along the way.
Links mentioned in the show:
Ben's Instagram @runnerguywithasign
Follow the podcast on social media:
Do Something More Instagram
Do Something More Facebook
Ben Lyne is a runner and for over 2 years he kept having the thought that he could use those regular runs to inspire and motivate others…by holding a sign while he ran that says ‘I Believe In You’. He finally got the courage to act on those thoughts a couple of years ago, and the reaction and feedback he’s received has been tremendous. He’s had many let him know that through this simple act of service he’s lifted them, encouraged them, and even saved their life.
Ben’s story is an inspiring reminder to me that the world is filled with people who need validation, love, and lifting…and it really doesn’t take much to give it to them and to make a difference in their lives. Listen to the podcast to hear more about Ben’s story, a little bit of the logistics behind what he does, and the many people he’s motivated along the way.
Links mentioned in the show:
Ben's Instagram @runnerguywithasign
Follow the podcast on social media:
Do Something More Instagram
Do Something More Facebook
Melissa : You are listening to the do something more podcast. And this is episode 39 with Ben line from at runner Guy with a sign, spreading encouragement and inspiration through motivational running to the Do Something More podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. And today I'm super excited to talk with Ben Lyne because he is what he calls himself, a motivational runner. And I first learned about Ben through his instagram handle at runner guy with a sign and was just, as a fellow runner, thought it was really cool, the things that he's doing, but I'm going to let him share a little bit more about that. But first, Ben, welcome to the show.
Ben: Hey, thank you so much. I'm very excited to be here.
Melissa : Why don't you just start off by just telling us a little bit about you?
Ben: Yeah. So I had kind of a non typical early life. I was born in Australia. I'm full blooded australian.
Melissa : Oh, wow.
Ben: Can't do much of an accent anymore, but because my parents passed away when I was almost four, and me, I was the youngest, so me and my oldest, or my oldest, the rest of my sisters who were there were seven of us, so six sisters that are older. We went to the US to live with a family that was friends with my mom because the other family we had there couldn't take us in, and that ended up being the best option for us. So we actually moved about the age of four from there to kind of close to Melbourne, all the way to New Jersey.
Melissa : Oh, wow.
Ben: Which is a little different. And then lived there until about the age of ten. That family turned out to not be, they didn't turn out to be the greatest people on earth that were physically abusive. And about the age of ten, I got out of there and went to Utah, here, where my oldest sister Kelly was living. And eventually, actually around ten, just before my 10th birthday, went to live with a family and then was adopted by them officially a couple of years later. There's a process that you go through. It doesn't happen right away, but they ended up being some of the best people to ever live, in my opinion. So through all those experiences, had a very atypical childhood for those at least growing up around here in Utah. Had.
Melissa : Right. Wow.
Ben: But, yeah, I had lived there until I went on a mission age 19 to southern California. Came back when I was 21, got married at 22, and lived in Layton. And then now I live in Eagle Mountain. We have five kids.
Melissa : Yeah. Those experiences, I think, could be a whole episode in themselves. That is definitely a unique background, but I'm sure is what has inspired you to do some of the things that you do now. So I would love to hear more about your runner guy with a sign, how this all started and what kind.
Ben: Of motivated and, you know, just like most things in reality are, they kind of happen over. So I I credit my good friend. He, he lived when we moved to Eagle Mountain and built a house. We lived out in the city center, which is like the farthest part of Eagle Mountain. And there's pretty much just houses out there. Not a lot of houses then. So it's kind of know, tight knit group in there. And about a house over from my house, same house number, different street, made friends with john, and we went running, you know, convinced me to go running with him. Then it became kind of a competition because I, like, know I could do this or I can do better than John. And so he used that to kind of, we ran marathons together and all kinds of other races. And then eventually, over the years, I got tired of racing and just wanted to run for fun, run without a schedule. And so I did that for a number of years, and then about 2019, so we've moved in Eagle Mountain. We live on the north side of Eagle Mountain now. I was out running one day and got a small idea, right? Like, hey, I'm not out very much. I'm always kind of know. And due to my upbringing in the lds church and different things, there's always a lot of things that I was taught to serve, right. And I've seen the benefits firsthand of doing that. But sitting at home all day, working at home in an office, I don't get a lot of chances to be out. So I was out running, had the idea that, hey, I pass all these people, and it's usually early in the morning, so they're probably driving to work or school or driving kids, and you don't find a lot of happy faces. Right. I can remember commuting, and I take kids to school and do things like that. And it's not like the first place on your list you want to be, especially early in the morning. So I had the idea, like, hey, I wonder if I could do something to motivate these people, because I see estimate at least a few hundred people, probably depending on how far I run. But if I could do something in those few seconds to motivate them, that would be a cool thing. So I got the idea. Didn't have the sign idea right away or what it would say, but this process went on for about two and a half years. So I would get the idea. I would get excited about it sometimes. At one point, I wrote it down when I got home, and this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to have a sign and I'm going to run with it. And then people that can't run, I'm going to put together events. We'll stand on the corners. We'll just really spread positivity. And I would get this really amazing feeling, right, thinking about that, but not being crazy extroverted, not liking unwanted attention through it, and thinking, okay, if I were out running with this sign, people are going to be thinking, this guy's nuts. What is he doing? Right? Or worse, okay, people think I'm nuts, but if my kids go to school and they're like, hey, your dad's nuts, your family is crazy, right? I didn't want any of that kind of negative things coming towards our family either. And so I kind of talked myself out of it. And then I would get the idea again at some point. I go around my day and get to work, and it's just like, nah, that's not a good idea. All the doubts creep in. And unfortunately, I let that happen for about two and a half years. And what changed two and a half years later is Covid happened, which is a big part of it. That to kind of spark it. That was in 2020. I didn't start doing it until 2021, actually. No, 2022. Last year in February. So as we get into this next year, 2024, it'll be two years. But because of COVID being disconnected from people, we love to travel, we couldn't travel. You had all the political fighting going on. There was some political fighting even in our had, you know, neighborhoods are going to church or different things, people, oh, you wear a mask, you're stupid. Oh, you don't want to wear a mask, you're stupid. And you had all these, you had Trump and Biden and all these things going on, right? And it's just I got kind of just to the point where I just felt kind of tired of all of it, all of that. Just tired of the fighting, tired of the negativity, tired of the disconnection. And there was one point I never felt like I was ever suffered from depression. I know we all get depressed about stuff, but I would never have said, like, hey, I've had depression, right? Where it goes on for a longer amount of time. It's more intense, those types of things. I think it was a form of depression where not to the point where I didn't get out of bed or I had suicidal thoughts or anything like that. It was more just like emotional, spiritual weariness, right? Just like, I'm just tired. Why can't people just stop? So I remember feeling like, man, I feel so uninspired. And so I don't want to talk to anybody. I have nothing to say. I hadn't spoken in church for a while. I hope they don't ask me to speak or something like that because maybe they'll ask me to speak. And of course a week later I get a call to speak in sacrament meeting. And I thought, okay, I'll do it. And then I just thought, I don't want to do it. I have nothing to say to anybody, right? And I was given a topic of love thy neighbor. I thought that's one of my favorite topics. I love that. But I don't feel like I have anything to say. I'm feeling so uninspired, so weary of all of this stuff. And so I think the next day I said a prayer and it's like, I don't want to feel like this anymore. I'm just tired of feeling this way. And then I just went about my business. Nothing really changed. Now, the next time I went to run, I got about a mile into the run and then got the idea again. And this time it was like a really forceful, to the core of my heart kind of thought, you need to do this and it's going to go well and you'll have something to talk about. Right. It'll be a lot of fun, right? And I got really excited about it again and I made a commitment. Okay, I'm going to do that. I had a few days until the next time I ran. And I thought, okay, on Tuesday, I'm going to do it. I'm going to make the sign. I didn't know what I was going to say, really. I didn't know how I was going to make it. I put it off. I procrastinated. I don't want to do this. And so Monday night at like 08:00 p.m. I'm sitting on the couch after I helped put my daughter to bed. It was about six at the time. And then I'm like, okay, I've got to do this. And I know that my wife's crafty. She usually has things. So I went to her craft room. She gave me some poster board and I took it downstairs and I started making a sign. I tried to write on it, couldn't do very well, but I decided on I believe in you. I thought that was something that really resonated with me, that made sense to me. And it wasn't something creepy or weird.
Melissa : Yeah, it's pretty universal message.
Ben: Yeah. And it's not something I came up with. Right. It's a pretty common thing that people say from time to time. And I thought it would be something great, so I decided on that. Ended up printing out letters in Google Docs on paper and then taping them on to the poster board. And then I had my sign. I thought, okay, it's done and I'll do it tomorrow morning. And I woke up in the morning and I just had all this dread, like, I have to do it. I can't back out, right, but I don't want to, and I don't know how it's going to go and how's it going to go? And I grabbed it eventually and just went out the door, started running with it, and people right away responded really positively. Honking, waving. I got really kind of excited running, and it ended up being something that was really fun to do and didn't realize the physical toll that it was adding to cardiovascular system. So I probably should have only ran a few miles or something to get used to it, but I got about two and a half miles away from home and then thought, oh, I've got to make it all the way back. I'm going to be probably over 5 miles, and I feel like I'm going to die right now.
Melissa : As a fellow runner, I can somewhat identify. I can only imagine holding that sign up and running like that.
Ben: Yeah. And I didn't mean to hold it up above my head. I just thought, I'll hold it at chest level because that's where your hands are anyway. But every time I saw a car, I'm like, okay, I got to hold it up, right? And so I don't hold it up the entire time. I hold it up when there's people there to see it. So if there's a long line of cars, I will have it up the whole time. But as soon as there's a break in cars, there's no one around. I'll pull it back down. But, man, I don't know why I chose to run on the highway, because there's just very few brakes.
Melissa : Yeah, lots of cars.
Ben: I was able to get through it, and then I did it in those following weeks, up to my talk, gave a talk on it, and it was an amazing experience. Had a lot of people come up to me, text me and just say, wow, that was so amazing. Thank you so much. Just had so many good things come from it. But then I was kind of wondering, should I keep doing this? Right? I want to do it, but can I do this every time? Should I do it once a week? I don't know how my body can hold up doing this or not. And I was kind of doubting if I should do it every time. And then friends, you know, someone's giving me some love on facebook in a group. And so I got added to the group and I started reading all of these. Somebody posted that. They saw me, posted a picture of me. Of course it's a picture of me. It looked like I was about on my deathbed. You have this mental image, like, I look so great.
Melissa : I look amazing. Yeah.
Ben: I look like I was almost dead. Just appreciating seeing me and then having their daughter with them in the car, and they had this really positive talk on believing in themselves and how positive that is. And then everybody responding to it and then writing comments. Oh, I saw you. And just sharing little stories about what happened and those posts and those things became kind of a regular thing. And so I started having. Now I have hundreds and hundreds of little stories and comments from people and all kinds of things. Amazing things started to happen. I knew I had to keep doing it. Yeah. Just a wide range of things. Right? Like, just small things from, hey, it made my day to. It changed the way my relationship with my parents. I decided to try and do this again. I'm going to stay in school now, whatever it was people are struggling with. And then I think the biggest one that really hit home with me was this was about six months in. I saw a guy about 100 yards ahead of me. He uturned and he pulled over. And I've had a couple of people do that. I always get a little bit nervous about that.
Melissa : Right.
Ben: I don't know what's the intention, right? But it's probably fine. As I got closer, he rolled down the window and crouched down, and he was in tears and said that he was struggling with some things. He was driving around and he had just decided he was going to end his life.
Melissa : Oh, my goodness.
Ben: And then right after that, he saw me and he said it had such a huge effect on him. Right. It snapped him right out of it. And he decided, I'm going to battle through that and I'm not going to do it. So that floored me and that was a huge emotional experience for me and just really solidified that, hey, I can't stop doing this. It really helped put any doubts that I had about, can I keep this up? Can I do this? And now it was like, and I've got to do this. This is having a huge impact. It seemed like a lot of responsibility, right. Because I don't look at it as, hey, if I don't get out today, someone might not see me and it might cause problems. I need to get out there. And it's a huge stress. It's just a lot of fun. I'm getting out there, getting exercise, but I'm helping spark something in people, really. They do all the work. I'm really doing less than 1% of the work. I'm just running by with a sign for a few seconds and they see that and then they take that and they do amazing things with that, which really speaks to. They were amazing the whole time. I just reminded them of that. And if I can have that effect, I don't know how many people I affect every time I run, but like I said, a few hundred or more a few times a week adds up. And that has a large butterfly effect on, hey, maybe, for example, the next five cars I see, the first guy sees me and he decides not to road rage.
Melissa : Right.
Ben: Five minutes later. Right. And cause a fatality. Or this person saw me and it helped them treat their spouse a little bit better or change their entire outlook on life or whatever it is. Right. And you have that effect on people.
Melissa : Yeah, it's definitely a ripple out effect.
Ben: Yeah, definitely.
Melissa : And I love how you shared that. Getting that feedback helped you realize, hey, this is important. I can keep doing this because I'm sure it's not always easy. Like I said, as a runner, I know that we don't always love and look forward to those long runs, but it's amazing when you get just a little tiny bit of feedback how that can bolster you to keep doing what you're doing.
Ben: Yeah, it's all the difference. I think we get so blind to actually how good things are, but we don't necessarily see it. We think, oh, things are bad, things aren't going my way, and all it takes is just a little reminder from somebody else, some external validation from somebody.
Melissa : Right.
Ben: It's like my wife, she's been to the store and with our younger kids in past years and having a hard time and they're not cooperating. And someone walks by and says, oh, man, I really admire how you handle your kids. You're doing such a great job. Or, hey, your hair is pretty, right?
Melissa : All right.
Ben: Just saying those little words makes. I mean, she remembers that forever. I remember things like that when people say things. And so I think even me out there running with the sign, when I hear the feedback that's needed. Luckily, I hear it so often, I just get such a kick out of it. We need to spread it and get it out in front of people in other areas and other cities. And I just want to spread it over the whole world because I know how powerful now just a few kind words are.
Melissa : Right? Yeah. And I love what you shared there at the beginning of your story, how you went back and forth, how it was this idea, as someone, myself, who took me over a decade to do this podcast, how you bounced that idea had to keep coming back, and you had to kind of let it sit there and marinate maybe for a little bit and then finally get the courage to do it. I think that's a good reminder, too, for anyone that's wanting to do something good, that it's totally normal to fill that hesitation about it and that it does take a little courage to finally step forward and do it.
Ben: Yeah, definitely. It's a process.
Melissa : So you were sharing that you would love to spread more of this. What are some of your thoughts or ideas with that?
Ben: Yeah, so I have a lot of things I want to do. Some of the things I've done already is I've run in other areas, in other countries, and when I go on vacation or in my line of work, I work for a tech company that does consulting. And so from time to time, we have to travel to different companies and different customers and meet with them in person, and I don't even care where that is. Right. I've been all over different places, but it could be corning, middle of nowhere, corning New York or Omaha or wherever it is. Right. And I get excited because now I can get in front of a new group of.
Melissa : Yeah, yeah. I saw on your instagram you just did Japan and you had your sign in.
Ben: That was. It's always nerve wracking going to a new country because you don't know the culture. I mean, you know it in theory because you've watched videos or talked to. I just. I always wonder, how is this going to go over right in this new area, this new country, and with Japan being a completely different culture? And I know that they value looking out for others and not bothering other people. That's really huge in their culture. And so I thought, will I be bothering somebody? Will they not appreciate that? Plus, I wanted to make sure that the sign meant something to them, and I found out that I believe in you didn't really translate directly very well. And so I talked to some japanese people and some other people that had lived there and spoken Japanese and came to the conclusion that gambare, which is something they use to motivate each other and say, like, hang in there, keep it up.
Melissa : Okay.
Ben: And so I use that on my sign, and it definitely resonated with them and had all the same kinds of fun experiences. Right. People clapping, yelling back, positive things, not negative things, honking things like that. Still had the same kinds of experiences there that I have had everywhere else. So that was amazing experience. Wonderful, awesome people over there.
Melissa : Yeah. And it looks like from your pictures that you've graduated from that original poster board.
Ben: Yeah. So I had my original sign, and that first run, I didn't cover it in tape. I just taped the letters on.
Melissa : Okay.
Ben: And I don't know. You think sweaty hands and outside isn't a good. It's not a very good combination for poster board. It doesn't last very long. So I realized I had to cover it in tape, and so I kind of patchwork taped it up with shipping tape, and that worked okay for a while. And then I ran with it for over a year, and it got really ragged, I think. I don't know what happened, but I noticed a hole in it, almost like a rock went through it or a bb got shot at me. So there's holes in it. There's little areas where mold started to kick in, and I've got it hanging on my wall. But I did retire it. I went to another poster board sign that I moved on from paper letters to vinyl because I have a vinyl cutter. And then I had an idea because it's like when I would go on trips, I'd have to fold that up in a suitcase to roll it up.
Melissa : Right.
Ben: And that takes a toll on it. And I told my wife, because she's very crafty, she knits, she sews, she does all kinds of things. So I said, hey, I have this idea. If I can get some kind of fabric that's kind of weatherproof, that's really lightweight, that doesn't stretch when you pull on it, and it won't tear or anything like that. And then if you just have some slots in the end, I can put some wooden dowels or something in that, and then I could take that with me on trips and roll it up. And so she made that for my birthday, and I moved to that sign and I just kind of heat pressed vinyl onto that.
Melissa : Yeah.
Ben: And it's worked really well. And I've kind of iterated on that as well. I have all these other ideas for light up signs and I have a reflective sign just to make it easier for people to see, no matter what time of day. Right. Or what area I'm in. But, yeah, I've definitely moved on from the original sign. It would have ripped in half by now. Yeah.
Melissa : And I think the sign is what kind of makes what you're doing unique because you could put that on a shirt or in other ways. But there's something that is different about seeing someone holding a sign above their head while running that I think catches people's attention and just kind of illustrates that message a little more.
Ben: Yeah, that's a great point. It's something I didn't realize right away. And actually, somebody pointed out to me online because people comment and say, hey, that looks really hard. You should make t shirts or you should wreak something so you don't have to hold it and things like that. And then somebody responded and said exactly what you said. And I thought that's a great point since I haven't seen myself do it. I mean, I've taken videos and things like that, but I've never been out driving and seen and experience what the people see when they see me.
Melissa : Very unique, what you're doing.
Ben: Yeah. Right. Someday when I see somebody, I'm going to freak out and I'll probably scare the person to death when I after them to get a picture and hug them. Yeah, I hadn't really seen that. What you said is exactly right. People to see somebody going through the effort to do something difficult to get that message to you means so much more than a sign on the side of the road or a t shirt. Yeah, for sure.
Melissa : Yeah, it drives the point a little more. I know you kind of mentioned this, but do you have a specific schedule or routes that you stick to? I mean, I know runners, we kind of have schedules and routes anyways, but that you follow or do you just kind of go out when you're feeling like it's a good time or what have you?
Ben: Kind of, yeah, I have kind of a workout schedule. Like Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday are my running days, usually, unless travel interferes with that and I have to move things. And then Monday, Wednesday I'll do weights and then usually I don't do anything on Friday or Sunday, sometimes, depending. I went on a business trip and I went for a run. And then coworkers I was there with said, hey, you run with your sign. Can I come with you tomorrow? And I thought, okay, we'll go again. I'll run a couple of days in a row sometimes, if things like that happen. Yeah, I try to run a few times a week, and usually almost every week, I run three times, unless something pops up. And usually not less than like four to 5 miles. And then sometimes longer. Right. It just depends. Sometimes I get tired of running. I don't have specific routes that, I mean, there's only so many routes from where I live, right? But sometimes I will drive out to the high school, which is about 6 miles away, or catch a ride with one of my kids, and then I'll run home in the, you know, I'll ask my wife, hey, I'm going to run down the highway. I'm going to go past Costco, down to Lehigh or something. Can you pick me up in an hour?
Melissa : Right, right.
Ben: And just to get out of the monotony of running the same areas. But since I've been doing this too, it's a factor, right? I try to pay attention, like, where should I run today? Most of the time, I'll try to get out in front of people where there's the most people, but not always. Sometimes I just feel, and this is something I've gotten better at over the last couple of years, is I'll get a thought, like, hey, I should do this or go to this place. And then usually I would have just kind of disregarded, like, that's just myself, hey, I should go here. Or, hey, I could go here. But I noticed when I follow through on those things, something always comes out of it. Like something significant. One thing I do is I have these little. I wanted to leave something. When I ran in, trying to spread as much positivity as I could, I thought, hey, I could bring something with me, and then I could leave it somewhere and somebody could find it, right? Like a little packet with a letter in it. And I 3d print. I have 3d printers. I 3d print my little versions of my sign, okay? And I put them in there. And so I have a little letter, and I have that. And I've recently gotten some stickers and magnets and things, and I'll put them in there. And the letter just kind of explains my story. And then ask people, like, hey, if you're feeling up to it here's, my number. Text me back and let me know you got it. Or do something nice for somebody today.
Melissa : Like a little inspirational geocache.
Ben: Yeah. I'll leave them around town. Sometimes I'll time to a tree or a bench or. It just depends. Sometimes I had one experience where past somebody's house and then has a thought, I need to go back and leave it at their house. And I just thought, that's like a quarter of a mile back. I don't want to turn around. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to do it anyway. So I went back and did it. And the next day I got a text and it was this big, long, awesome story.
Melissa : Oh, wow.
Ben: About how they really needed that and they were able to spread that to their friends and husband had cancer and was really struggling.
Melissa : Wow.
Ben: I probably get about one in every 20 I leave. I'll get a text back. So the fact that I felt like I had to go back and I didn't want to, but I did and I got a text back is just kind of just evidence that, hey, I was supposed to do that. That was really needed there. And so I try to be open to that. But with life and all the distractions and things, I'm not always in that state of mind. But, yeah, I just try to put thought into where does it feel right to be instead of what's the best route to get my workout in?
Melissa : Yeah. That's such a great reminder that there are so many in the world who are struggling or going through hard things, and it really does not take much to help them feel lifted and loved and valued and all of those things.
Ben: Yeah, for sure.
Melissa : And the other thing I love about what you do is you've taken something that's natural for you. Maybe not everyone would want to be a motivational runner, but it's something you enjoy and you've taken it and used it to serve. And I love that reminder, too, that we can really take anything that is natural to us and use that to serve others.
Ben: Yeah, we all have something or we all have multiple things, right. It's fun to, when you come across those things and you do them and you think, well, that was just for me because like you said, I had to be running in the first place.
Melissa : Right.
Ben: And the way I got involved with that and then coming up with the idea and receiving some inspiration and everybody has that opportunity or those opportunities. What I've learned is that when you have a good thought to do something good, like you just do it, no matter how inconvenient or weird. It is.
Melissa : Oh, true.
Ben: Right. As long as it's legal, it's a good thing and something great comes from it. And it's not in a way that you expect. It's just very unexpected. But if we can tune into those good thoughts, like, just act on them, and the more you act on them, the more you pay attention, you'll notice, the more you'll have.
Melissa : Right.
Ben: And you just tap into that and amazing things happen. It's an awesome thing.
Melissa : Yeah. So true. That's great. Well, I would just love to close with any advice or encouragement that you would give to someone that's learned about what you do wants to be a motivational runner, or really anyone that's wanting to spread positivity and encouragement to those around them. What advice or encouragement would you give them?
Ben: Yeah, I mean, if somebody wants to be a motivational runner, I will definitely help get you a sign and all those things. You can go to my instagram for sure and message me there. But, yeah, like I was talking about before, we all need encouragement. We all need external validation because we don't realize how amazing and awesome we already are. The advice I would give is just. And it's not these amazing, life changing, necessarily situations that you find change your life. It's these really small, simple things and thoughts that if you listen to those good thoughts and those ideas that pop into your head and you act on those, it just really grows into something amazing. So if you're finding yourself struggling, if you're finding yourself down, know that this happens to everybody. Also know that you're amazing and you're of high worth and high potential and that you're just struggling with those things. But just try to do something good for others. Try to do something small and see the effect that it'll have on you. It'll change your life completely. And then the more you act on that, the better you'll feel about that. And it might not solve all your problems, definitely hasn't solved all of mine, but it changes your whole outlook on life. And then you realize of all the potential that you have and the things that you can do, and you start to do those things, and it completely changes your know, do more good things, I guess.
Melissa : That's great. Well, thank you so much, Ben. This has been a great interview, and I've loved learning more about what has motivated you to do your motivational running. Do you just want to end with giving us where others can find you if they want to learn more about you?
Ben: Yeah, I mean, some people have found me at my house. I'm okay with that as long as you aren't scary. But I'm on Instagram, and that's where I put pretty much everything I do. I have been on other platforms like YouTube and TikTok and things like that, but I don't really have time to focus on a lot, and so I focus pretty much everything onto my instagram. So if you want to track me down, I post there pretty regularly. I'll put out reels sometimes, but I have a lot of really cool things planned that I want to spread this movement, and I want to get people involved that want to run, people involved that don't want to run, want to just be uplifted or do uplifting things for others. I have all kinds of cool things that will be coming down the pipe here over the next year. So go to my Instagram. It's runnerguy with a sign, and you can see any updates there or other things that I post.
Melissa : That's great. I'll put links to that in the show notes. And as a runner, I will be following along to see some of those great things you have coming out. So thanks again, Ben, for this interview.
Ben: Thank you. I totally enjoyed it. Melissa, thank you so much.
Melissa : That was my interview with Ben. Line from at runner Guy with a sign. And it's just really a unique and amazing story, even from what he started by sharing about his childhood all the way to how he was motivated to start running with his sign and wanting to inspire others and send some positivity out into the world. And I loved how he shared that. It was a process there in the beginning, that this idea kept coming back to him over two and a half years, kind of bumping back into his thoughts. And he might have some worries about it or the doubts would creep in. But eventually he was able to act on those thoughts that he'd had and made a simple sign and started running with it. And then it's amazing to me the reactions that he's received sometimes all over the world and in his own community, on social media or through comments or through others, even just stopping to tell him what seeing him running with his sign meant to them. It's such a huge reminder as you listen to that story of his, and not just with running, but with the little positive geocaches he's left, too. Such a good reminder how much people around us, everyone needs to know that they're loved, that they're valued, that they need encouragement, they need positivity. They need to be lifted and inspired. And it really doesn't take much to help someone realize that. I loved how he shared that what he was doing was just a small part of the equation. That people just needed that little reminder that they are amazing and that they are valued and that they can make it with whatever difficult circumstance they're in. So I just want to leave these final thoughts. You might not be a runner like Ben is, and that might not be how you feel inspired to reach out to the world. But I guarantee there are people in your life right now who need your talents. They need the way you look at life, your perspective, your experiences. They need that love and positivity and upliftment and encouragement from you. It doesn't have to be something huge. It doesn't have to be fancy. You don't have to be super good at something to be able to spread that encouragement. And that's really what Ben's story shows us. So maybe you had some thoughts as you listen to this show. Maybe like Ben, you've had some thoughts that have come to you over the years or things that keep coming back. And I just want to leave my own encouragement to follow through on those, to do what you can to follow through and reach out and spread the love and positivity that you have to share with the world and those around you. And if you would like to show some love to the podcast, just a friendly reminder, you can leave a review on Apple Podcast or follow the podcast. Or if you loved this episode and would like to share it with someone, you can do that as well. So thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next time.