Ryan Stream does it all. Whether it be traveling across the nation speaking to schools, writing books or creating music, he does it all with a smile on his face “Everybody has a story and everybody has experiences that other people can relate to. You know, you don’t have to beg for food in a homeless shelter or get adopted or go through foster care to be able to use your story and steps to help other people be resilient. “
Castle Country Radio talked with Stream to discuss all of this, including his newest music and recent inclusion in Forbes magazine.
The first topic Stream discussed was what inspired him to do what he does,” there are individuals in your life, in my life, that have truly pushed us in a direction that maybe we couldn’t see ourselves going. For example, David Bird, every choir concert, man, he would have me perform the piano.” Stream continued,” he helped me love the spotlight. And I realized when you do music, it’s the universal language, and it has the power to connect with people when words don’t. So throughout my whole life, looking at those pictures, I always wanted to be a military guy, and I always wanted to be a performer.”
Another venture that Stream undertakes is writing. To date, Stream has two books published, “Conquering Your Coliseum” and “I Feel Like a Giant: Nine Steps to Building Confidence.” Stream discussed the intent behind these books,” everybody has a story and everybody has experiences that other people could relate to. You know, you don’t have to beg for food in a homeless shelter or get adopted or go through foster care to be able to use your story and steps to help other people be resilient. “ explained Stream,” You know, seven years ago when I started writing a book, nobody knew that I was getting fired from my job. I was exiting the military for mental health reasons. I was doing things I shouldn’t be doing. What took me from literally being homeless and then sleeping in my car at the coal mine and now where we’re at with multiple incomes, and multiple businesses, I realized it was my choice. It was my choice to share my story. It was my choice to reprogram my brain to think positive.”
We then moved on to his motivational speaking, asking Stream what he enjoys most about it,” I love speaking to people. I love speaking because if somebody has something about themselves and you could share the interest that both of you have, or if you both build a relationship because you’ve gone through the same experiences, that is so powerful.” Stream went on to say,” when I realized, oh my gosh, words are magic. Literally in the word spelling, it says spell. So as soon as I realized, oh my gosh, words are like spells, I’m going to cast a positive spell on people. And I’m going to make them think and feel like they can conquer their coliseum. And I’m going to make them feel and walk and think like they’re a giant.”
The topic of our conversation then shifted toward his recent inclusion in Forbes Magazine, which Stream described,” So this has been a long time coming. But as soon as they messaged me and said,’ Hey, here it is, man,’ I started tearing up because it was one of the things that I’d love to do. And when it happened, man, I celebrated.” he continued,” I danced around for about 10 minutes and then I realized, like, OK, now what? It’s like making a shot after you make the shot. You have to keep shooting. You have to keep making it. You have to get on defense and offense. It never ends.”
Another topic Stream discussed was his battle with drug addiction,” Everybody always needs somebody to believe in them. Rick Rasmussen from Cleveland, Utah, was the man who believed in me when I was a drug addict. He taught me that all you have to have is somebody to believe in you, somebody to say,’ Hey man, get back up. Come on dude, you can do that’.” Stream further explained the effect Rasmussen had on his life,” he gave me a hundred dollars. I was sleeping in my car. I was homeless …And man, at first, when he took the money out of his pocket, I was like, Rick, I can’t do it. I can’t do it. But he said, Ryan, make me a promise. One day you will pay me back. One day you will give me my hundred dollars back. I remember getting in the car and I remember crying, dude, how am I going to do this? About two years later, I just got back from war, man. My life changed because I decided to choose to change. I pulled up to Rick’s house and I gave him a hundred dollars.”
The penultimate topic of our interview was Stream’s music, which features a catalog containing two albums and several singles. We asked Stream to discuss what message he is trying to spread through his music,” In the classrooms, before I go into some of these schools, they say, hey, you know, we’ve had other speakers come and sometimes the students just don’t want to listen. And I always giggle, man, because I’m coming out rapping. I come out, all the lights are off. I come out rapping. And then as soon as the song’s over, before the beat stops, I start playing the piano blindfolded. And then I roll over on my back without stopping because I realize music is the universal language.” explained Stream,” people don’t like to read. It’s the truth. That’s why podcasts are so big because I don’t want to have to read this book. I can just listen to a podcast. If you go back and you listen to my music, if you listen to all 20 music videos that I have, what I put in those songs were from books. I’ve just taken what authors have said that has resonated with me and I put them into my songs. And if they resonated with me and helped me change my life, I know it will help other people.”
Concluding our interview, Stream shared,” Everybody’s looking for somebody to save them. Whatever you think about, whatever you speak about, you will become. I just started to talk and think and trick myself into being a hero …I realized every single person has something valuable. If you listen and learn from everybody, that’s how you get valuable. And that’s how you become a hero.”
*Photo Courtesy of Ryan Stream