A Springville man is running around town and beyond letting people know that he believes in you, and he’s doing it loud and clear—with a sign.
For the past couple of years, Brice Nokes, 27, has been running around holding a sign that says, “I Believe in You.” Nokes said that holding this sign began when he, too, needed to be shown a sign.
“I saw a social media account of a local guy who runs with a sign that says, ‘I Believe in You,’ and I was in a place in my life when things weren’t going well,” Nokes recalled. “I decided to reach out to him to see why he did it, and I told him a little bit of my story. He challenged me to start running with it, and I took up his challenge and started to do it.”
The man Nokes reached out to is Ben Lyne of Eagle Mountain, who started running with an “I Believe in You” sign in early 2022 for similar reasons. Lyne, who is a big ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Avengers’ fan, said that he got his original inspiration from the scenes where the heroes are charging forward. He said that he wanted to do that with a sign as he “charged forward” letting people on their way to work in the morning know that someone believed in them.
“I would see people driving to school or work while I was out running,” Lyne said. “You can kind of see it on their faces, and it was how I used to feel when I had to go into the office, and you’re just like ‘Ughhh, I have to go to work.’ I wanted to give them encouragement on their morning drives.”
Both Nokes and Lyne said that telling others you believe in them is also a way of saying it out loud to yourself.
“Leading up to meeting Ben, I felt pretty alone and like I didn’t have a purpose,” Nokes said. “When I saw Ben with his sign, it made me feel like this person who doesn’t even know who I am, cares about me. It’s good to have those affirmations being told to you rather than something negative because sometimes you can be drowned in the negativity that is going on. Hearing or seeing those words from a stranger who doesn’t even know you can have a big impact on you.
“When I started running with the sign, it brought a little bit more of a purpose back into my life,” Nokes continued. “In the beginning, I was using the sign to help me through my hard times, but as I kept doing it, it has changed my life in a lot of different ways. It’s really cool to see the reactions of people and the impact that I can have on them.”
Nokes said he runs with the sign three days a week, and runs mostly locally. He said, however, that he also tries to take the sign with him whenever he travels.
“I travel occasionally for work, so I’ve taken it to places like Tennessee and Georgia and Canada,” he said. “I also took it surfing with me in California, and taking it to National Parks has been really cool. I take it with me and put stickers on the back of it to remember where it’s been.”
Spreading the message around the country and even world has been something that Lyne says he hopes to be able to do. In fact, Lyne has signs made in many different languages, and he takes them with him in his own world-traveling job. Lyne said that the message is received universally and it’s something that everyone needs to hear (and see). He also said that having people like Nokes help in that effort has been really good.
“I have a lot of people who pull over in tears and say, ‘Thank you so much. I needed this.’ I had a man come up to me and tell me that seeing the sign saved his life. The message is something we all need, and I just want to spread as far as I possibly can.”
Nokes said that he has also had many who have been positively affected by seeing the sign.
“It’s been really positive and awesome to see people’s response and reactions to it,” Nokes said. “I run a lot on BYU’s campus, and I’ve had a lot of students tell me that they really needed to see the message. You never know what people may be going through in their lives, and knowing that this small act is helping them, is why I keep doing it.”
Both Nokes and Lyne say that they plan on running with their signs as long as they can, and also encourage others to “take on the challenge.”
“The goal that Ben and I have is to encourage others to take on the challenge,” Nokes said.
“I just want to spread it everywhere,” Lyne added. “It’s not just running; it’s also looking for opportunities in the community or about your daily life to share the message in some kind of way. I want everybody to spread this in their own way, whether it’s running or walking. Bring a sign to school or to work. If you don’t want to bring a sign, share notes. Whatever it is, I want everybody who wants to, to join me.”
Lyne said that he is working with schools and launching a nonprofit called “Show Me a Sign,” so that schools and communities can plan their own events and ways to share a similar message.
“No story is just too small, and anyone who wants to be a part of this can,” Lyne said. “I love seeing what Brice is doing. The more people see someone holding a sign, the more someone else will be inspired to do the same. Seeing it over and over and over is going to be awesome.”
Nokes and Lyne each have social media accounts where they share their journey with their “I Believe in You” signs. Nokes’ can be found on Instagram @guywithasign_believe, and Lyne’s can be found @runnerguywithasign. For more information on how to get involved, go to showmeasign.org.
