Inside Madness Misdiagnosed: A Journey Through OCD, Schizophrenia, And Recovery with Benton Savage

One diagnosis can shape a decade—and the wrong one can steal it. We sit down with author Benton Savage to unpack how a bipolar label masked what was really driving his life: severe OCD and schizophrenia. His account is unsparing and deeply human, from an impulsive proposal and a terrifying break‑in to a dehydrated trek after deciding to “run home” across the country. Benton’s story doesn’t ask for pity; it argues for precision. When the diagnosis finally fit, the treatment did too.

Benton walks us through the medications that failed him and the ones that finally clicked—moving from lithium and Zyprexa to an Abilify‑anchored plan supported by Prozac and Wellbutrin. He makes a compelling case for medication adherence as the non‑negotiable foundation, with lifestyle as the amplifier. Morning routines became his ballast: up at five, write before dawn, exercise, then run his short‑term rental business. Sleep hygiene, consistent meals, and predictable days turned chaos into traction.

Alcohol sits in the background as a familiar trap. Benton’s journal project, The Stoic Alcoholic, started as a 366‑day sobriety sprint and evolved into something more honest after a slip around day 100. Instead of throwing the year away, he reframed relapse as a single bad day and started again. He credits Naked Mind for helping him confront the cost of “just one drink” and shares practical strategies for journaling, swapping rewards, and sustaining a sober mindset without perfection theater.

We also talk about the social toll—friends drifting, family fatigue, and the slow work of becoming reliable again. Benton isn’t looking to be a counselor or a hero; he wants to live a normal, steady life and let the work speak for itself. Madness Misdiagnosed (Wrong Side Out) is out now with strong early reviews, and the audiobook is on the way. If you or someone you love is questioning a diagnosis, wrestling with compulsions, or trying to rebuild after a spiral, this conversation offers clarity, tools, and a path back to solid ground.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—your support helps others find honest mental health stories that actually help.

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SPEAKER_02 0:13

Well, hello and welcome to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbein, we got a very special guest today. His name is Benton Savage, and he is the author of a book called Madness Misdiagnosed. And uh I am pretty interested in hearing about this and all the other stuff you've done. So instead of getting into a complicated uh intro, Benton, welcome to the show. How are you doing today? Good, fine. How are you? I am fantastic. I'm uh alive and kicking and not locked up or anything like that. So it's a good day. I've always been alive and kicking, but I have been locked up. I have too. I prefer to not be that way ever again.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Me three.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

So tell me a little bit about yourself. I know you've done a lot of uh writing, you've published a number of books, but we're gonna talk about your most recent book in particular. But you know, tell me a little bit about yourself. How'd you get to this place?

From Bipolar Label To New Diagnosis

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Okay, uh, I wrote Wrong Side Out. This book, Wrong Side Out, Madness Misdiagnose, was actually written in 2009 or 10. And what it was it was originally titled uh Wrong Side Out, the Bipolar Experience. And I thought I was bipolar at the time. And 10 years later they diagnosed, gave me a different diagnosis. And so that this book came into play because I was I went around for 10 years thinking I was bipolar when I was actually schizophrenic, and extreme case of OCD. I struggled pretty greatly there for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

And the treatments for those two uh situations look nothing like each other, right? So tell me a little bit about you know, you leading up to your diagnosis, the wrong one, what was going on?

Early Signs And Escalation

Crisis, Hospitalization, And Shock

SPEAKER_00 2:14

I'll tell you, it's in the book, but I'll tell you right. It starts off with this. Um I was it was 1998, and I was about 25 years old. I was living in Atlanta, working in real estate, and uh I was really struggling. I was I really was just kind of acting weird. All my friends were noticing. I was getting very what I look back on, it was my OCD acting up. I was just really inappropriate with girls, not like physically inappropriate, but just calling a little too much and that kind of thing. And then I ended up asking a girl to marry me. Yes, and she was not, I knew her, of course, and I'd dated her a few years before, a couple years before, but uh she was not expecting the wedding and wedding invite. And then what happened was she said she very kindly said no. She wasn't ready, she was only 20 years old, and I was about 25. Okay, and um what ended up happening, and this is this is I mean, the whole book's embarrassing, but when I wrote the book, I said I was gonna tell the story, no matter how embarrassing it was for to help other people just to understand. Because when I wrote the book, it was I want people to understand. I got tired of people saying, I'm bipolar as well, but you I don't take medication, I'm just guthead out. I'm just strung through it. And I that's the worst thing you can say to somebody with a serious mental health condition is that they don't need medication. Because eventually, I mean, I believe them. You know, you want to believe them, you want to believe them. You know they're wrong at the time, but eventually they wear you down. And so what happened when I wrote the book, I wanted to be as honest as possible, just as honest as possible, right down to asking a girl to marry. And then I thought about two weeks later, I thought she was sleeping with all my friends. And uh, like I was getting phone calls, and I thought they were egging me on, and I eventually broke into one of my friends' house, did not get arrested, but uh did break my hand broke going in, and then they checked me in the house. I had to go to the hospital for my broken hand, and then they checked me into it. They were like, You gotta go to see the you need to go inside for a little while. And I was shocked. I mean, even though my behavior was ridiculous, for me, I was shocked.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Okay, and it was it was very kind of disassociating your thoughts from your actions a little bit.

Delusions And Cross‑Country Flight

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Well, I did that off and on for 20 years, too. Okay, that was that was I mean, that was the pinnacle. I mean, that was the first one. It was so unexpected, the whole the whole mental health, or unexpected to me. I think people around me may have had a clue. But um, yeah, I mean, I did that kind of behavior for a long time. Kind of behavior, not that, but just delusional behavior, very delusional at times. It was when I was in California, about 1999, and I wanted to get back to Tennessee. I wasn't happy in California. I thought I could run across the country like Forrest Gump. Literally, I did. I did, I did, and I took off. I took off and ran about a mile, and um this is in the book, too, sadly enough. Uh, it just came out on audio yesterday two days ago. I listened to it because I had to proof it. It's brutal hearing your life story told to you by somebody else, right? Right, in the first person, but uh I ended up uh walking. I was in northern California and up walking about 20 miles or 30 miles, and finally I was so dehydrated, had no money, no ID, no food, nothing. Wow, and um I finally called my mom Collect, and she it's a long story, but I called the police, they took me to a church. Some cousins that happened to live on the west coast came and got me, vouched for me to get on the airplane. It was a whole deal. It was a whole deal. Yeah, yeah. I was up on medication.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

So when you were on medication, you didn't have these types of problems, but you got I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Well, yes, um, I did actually have not as uh not as um not as sharp, so for lack of better words, but I did I was having problems. I was delusional. I thought that girl was married for first she was she was dead since 2002, and in 2015 I thought she was alive and I was on medication and I was on medication.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

So they were just giving you the wrong medication, it just wasn't what you needed, but it helped more than nothing.

On Meds Yet Still Misaligned

Rebuilding Life And Work

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I won't give it that. But uh I've been I've been on my meds, I've been on different meds for five years, and I've got my own business now, small business, and um I've written a couple books since then, and I'm really doing you know fairly functional at 53. And um, but it was a rough go of it. I mean, it was a rough go of it. You know, I mean, not that this is in the world, but I'm not married, I don't have children. I mean, I missed out on all that because it was I mean, I it would have been hard to I did have a couple girlfriends, but they were very patient, very patient. But um well, you're still young. There's uh life I'm not worried about that. I'm not worried about that. I'm just saying I'm 53 and just now getting really where I'm capable of doing something like that. There you go. All right, yeah, and uh and I'm very functional now, but um it was a long stint, a tough stint.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Wow, and going through all this, you know, how was your family or or did you have a community around you?

Self‑Medication And Alcohol

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Um for a while. I mean, I still do. My mom and sister still support me, but I lost all my friends. I mean, not not just because I was mentally ill, just because uh my behavior, you know, it wasn't it wasn't that bad. It was just like, okay, you know, uh we're enough's enough. Um you know, I mean I mean they if I called them, they still take my call, of course. Right. But they're it's just like you know, they're not inviting me to the party. They're not inviting me to the party. They're not inviting me to the party. And now some of my I keep in touch with some of my friends. Okay, but um it's it's been a wrong my mom and sister are about fed up too. They read the book and they're very happy for me. They really liked the book. I mean, for the I dedicated the book to my mom and sister. Okay, and uh they liked it and they knew I'd written it. Um but it was still an eye-opener for them what was really going on in my head, because it's not so much a memoir as the way I justified my behavior um in my head. It's mostly, I mean, there were some good years in there where I was functional, but there were a lot of times where I wasn't, and that was when I was off the medication, and you know, uh self-medicating, as I say, and um that kind of thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

So I've heard a lot of different opinions about what you just described, self-medicating. Um, and a lot of times people will go to things, drugs and alcohol and different things. Sometimes it's just a habit, sometimes it's uh food. I mean, there's all these different uh ways people self-medicate. I put giant quotes around it because it's often not very effective.

The Stoic Alcoholic And Journaling

SPEAKER_00 9:36

But well, I will speaking of alcohol and all that. I just finished a book called The Stoic Alcoholic. Okay, and it's detailed 366 days, 360, it's gonna be the original title was 366, the first 366 days of sobriety. Made it about 100, and now it's called the Stoic Alcoholic. It's not the days, it's not the number count that matters. Because um, I did drink some, and uh I mean I haven't drank real recently, but I am I'm sure I imagine I will drink again. But that was my conclusion, the stoic alcoholic. I have done a lot better in the last year. I wouldn't be having this interview if I didn't write that book, just because I got it helped a lot. Journaling, just re just evaluating, I hate to use the word behavior again, but that's the word. Right, right. And um actions, your behavior, yeah, actions, whatever, words that come out of your mouth. And um it really did make that journaling, really did make a big difference. And I journaled about 150 of the 350 days. Okay, and it's pretty good. I mean, a couple people have read it and they're like, it this is good, and it's gonna get published. I mean, it's gonna get published.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

You got the notion to journal from the book you read, The Stoic Alcoholic.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

No, that's my book, the stoic.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Oh, that is your book. Okay, that is mine.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

That was my book, that was the subtitle.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Oh, got it. All right, so this is all okay. Yes, sir. You had read somebody else's book. So, where did you get the notion to do journaling? Because journaling is a very powerful tool that we talk about all the time.

Rethinking Sobriety And Relapse

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Honestly, I woke up that morning and came up with the idea. Okay. I really I'd had a rough night, and I was like, I was like, I knew I needed to get sober. I was like, you know, AA wasn't gonna work for me or hadn't worked for me, and I wasn't gonna go to I wasn't gonna go to rehab. I thought it did help. I mean, it did make me reflect on 30 years of alcoholism, and it was very helpful. I would highly recommend it. And I did read a really good book. Speaking of um speaking of books that were effective, I've been touting it on these podcasts. It's called Naked Mind. Okay, by Haley Grace. And it's really good. It's really good. What it it starts off the book with if you're drinking, if you're drinking, you don't need to, if you're drinking when you start this book, you don't need to stop. I was like, okay, that's the book for me. And uh she said, but by the end of it, you won't want to, and you really almost don't want to, because she explains it so well about basically I I've come to the conclusion that yes, I may drink again, but it will have a negative impact on my life. There's nothing positive that will come of me having another drink. So even if I only had one.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

You choosing to make a bad choice and being aware of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yes, exactly. Now that could be true for anybody if you want to be argue it, but I mean, it's more true for more some people than others, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Right. And I think a lot of times, I mean, I've battled with addiction in my life, and uh what what you do a lot of is make excuses and reasons why, and and and rather than acknowledge you're making a bad choice. Yeah. So I think just ownership of that is is a step in the right direction. And um, you know, there's plenty of of alcoholics that do take a drink once in a while and recollect themselves, and and it's you know, we're human. That that that's the thing to remember is you know, none of us are perfect, and and you know, we we have our journey to to walk through, and sometimes it you go up and back and in and out, and eventually you kind of get to a place where you're headed, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Well, I like my conclusion of the book because I I mean obviously uh the 366 days of sobriety that went out the door after about a hundred days, but I kept on writing here and there, and I was like, you know, in the past I've I've had months, even years of sobriety in the past, and you know, you have that one drink, and you're like, Oh, screw it, I can't I can't do it when really you only lost one day of your life. You can start back over the next day, and it's really not that big of a deal in the big picture. But it is hard not to pick up a drink the next day, but that's what it really boils down to is it's not about the daycount, it's about a mindset of you want to live basically a sober life, right? So I in a way, I think the conclusion of my book was actually maybe even better because I mean 366 days of sobriety, what is that gonna teach anybody? But you know, I really go into my struggles. I go into other struggles when you're talking about food and substituting for food in stressful situations. I go to sugar or food, or you know, I I mean, yeah, my food is very much an addict. I mean, that's a safe go-to, but I can eat food like cray, I can eat a whole pizza in about an hour too if I want to.

Becoming A Writer Without Credentials

SPEAKER_02 14:37

I hear you. I've got a lot in common, actually. Yes, yes, I got a big appetite. Yeah, yeah. No, I have I I have to keep check on it. I I yeah, I had an issue that way myself myself. So as you as you decided to write, you know, your first the first time you wrote and all the way to this most recent book, tell me a little bit about the development. I mean, it doesn't sound like you you know majored in in English literature or or you know took a lot of courses on writing. It sounds like you just jumped into it.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Uh well, yes and no. Yes, I've always been a big reader, uh-huh. Very big reader, but no English teacher ever said, Benton, dedicate your first book to me. You're so talented. No teacher ever said that. But I was a good student.

unknown 15:29

Okay.

How OCD Unlocked The Diagnosis

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Nevertheless, no teacher said that to me. But I will tell you what I was but I have always been a big reader. I mean, I always read the classics. I'm a I'm a I'll take on a Harvard professor, English professor on 20th century English. Nice. But um, well, the reason I started writing was actually that girl that asked to marry me, she was um, she had a few issues too, not quite like mine. But she said um she was studying um, studying to be a doctor at the time, and she'd read a book called An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redford Jameson, which is really famous. It's well, it's famous in those gen in that genre, but it was it was a doctor, it was a research person who researched uh mental illness diseases like a scientist, more or less, and uh and she had bipolar. So she wrote about it from that standpoint.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

All right. So at one point you got diagnosed with with what you consider to be your current condition. But what happened there? How did they how did somebody like go, you know, I don't think it's uh bipolar we're dealing with? Like what what happened there?

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Well, unbelievably, um I think I think the doctors knew the for a long time. I think the doctors knew for a long time, and they didn't want to change the chart. You're keeping it I don't uh that's that's my opinion. Uh and I've told the doctors and they're like that's not far-fetched, maybe. I mean, they mean they're you know, like, you know, just didn't want to change it, you know. I'm bipolar, nobody wants to tell you they're schizophrenic, right? Nobody wants to tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Well, and schizophrenia is a a a big spectrum of of a problem, but it it can range, and I again I don't know a whole lot about it, but I've interviewed and known a lot of people who were schizophrenic, and we we've had we have a uh a nonprofit where we do garden therapy, and we've had a number of schizophrenics phrenics out here, and what I've observed is things like um talking to people that I don't see. I'm not saying they're not there, I'm just saying I don't see them. Um people have you know talked about voices in their head, um um compulsions.

Routine, Sleep, And Structure

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Uh compulsion was my problem. Okay, I would I would be and that's where the OCD, the obsessive compulsive uh disorder came in. And that that was really the that was really the key to diagnosing me was acknowledgement that I'm compulsive. And in 20 years, and I I've told my mom, I was like, how did that nobody diagnose me if I'm OCD? I mean, my whole life is littered with OCD all over it, yeah. And nobody ever said the word until 2020 to me. Okay, and I'll tell you what, I was in an emergency room. The only time I ever checked myself into a hospital, checked myself in myself. I've been in the hospital probably eight times. Not carried, not carried in grab, you know, not carried in on a stretcher or anything, but it was, I mean, I was forced to go. And um, but this was the only time I volunteered, I checked myself in, and I was just like, I couldn't get medication. It's I mean, it's crazy out there. Psychiatric world is crazy out there. It I haven't seen a doctor in five years.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

So tell me about where where you're at now. Like, I mean, it seems like you got yourself together pretty well. Obviously, your stories are telling me that you're still dealing with plenty, but but in our conversation, I wouldn't recognize you as a guy who's battling these things that that you're telling me about. So tell me about you know, your regimen, your routine, your medication. What do you do to keep yourself together?

SPEAKER_00 19:16

That's a good question. I did a lot of that, hate to bring up the stoic alcoholic, but I did I really evaluated my behavior and I really focused on getting a routine going. Okay first I started with rituals, making sure I exercised every day, or making sure just make making sure I got up at six, just doing little things, make sure I did them every day. And eventually I was got a schedule. I was getting up around five in the morning and writing and then exercising, and then I had my little business. Just you know, just keeping busy. I mean, just really trying to keep a schedule. And I go to bed really early, figuring I get more done between five and eight than I'll get done between ten and twelve. I agree with that. Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna watch TV from 10 to 12, it doesn't matter what time. I mean, I mean, not TV, but I'm gonna do something very quiet, right? You know, listen to music or maybe read.

unknown 20:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

You know, I'm gonna wind it down. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be working at 10 o'clock at night. And um, you know, I get up at five and I'm you know, 30 minutes, I'm ready to roll. Yeah, and uh yeah, routine is very important. Medication is the most important thing. Uh you gotta take your medication. That's the whole point of my wrong side, Al, is you know, you don't think you don't think I need to take medication? Well, read this book and tell me this person doesn't need to take medication. It is ludicrous.

Finding The Right Medications

SPEAKER_02 20:35

So when you started taking the medication, I know that you know psych meds are kind of all over the place, and some people you know have problems, there's there's potential side effects, but when somebody finds the right combination of of of medicines, it can be life-changing. It sounds to me like you found a good combination.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yes, I started off on lithium, which is the go-to for bipolar, and uh I hated lithium. Okay, because it it made me, I gained a lot of weight, which is okay. It made my mouth dry all the time, but it really gave me the shakes. I mean, it really gave me the shakes. It was just a very uncomfortable drug.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Because you probably weren't deficient in it. Well, that's what they end up saying is that when you when you got a negative response, like I know plenty of people that take lithium and it just levels them out, they don't have those kind of side effects. Uh, I think the dry mouth is common for a lot of medication, but but the shake in and all the other stuff is I I think if you had that imbalance and you were lacking it, it you probably wouldn't have had those symptoms.

Publishing, Reviews, And Goals

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Right. Well, currently, right now, I'm taking a bilify, okay, which which has been a wonder drug. I mean, it's great. Before that, I took Xyprexa, and I get that's tough. But Bilify works for me. It's too well, you know, different body chemistries. I mean, other people's Zyprexa may work great for, but and I took Zyprexa for years and it just didn't work. All right, but uh Prozac and Will Butrin. The Prozac is pretty much the go-to for OCD. There's really not much drugs they can give you from OCD, from what I understand. Paxil and and I'd been on Paxel. Ironically, I'd never taken Prozac until the last until I was finally diagnosed. And um with the I think the Prozac, the medication is key. I mean, it doesn't matter what my routine is, doesn't matter if I ran a marathon. If I walked a marathon every day, I'd still be nuts. And uh, but the medicine really is everything. Medicine, and I'd say exercise a second, and sleep in normal patterns, sleeping during the sleeping at night. That's a big thing that people don't do, is they they end up sleeping odd hours because they're holding odd jobs or if any job, and they end up watching TV till four. Next thing you know, they're up till four every day, sleeping till noon. I mean, that's yeah, unless you're working those hours, unless you work those hours, it's not a good, it's not the lifestyle you should be leading, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Well, my my opinion is generally not a lot of good things are happening between two and five in the morning, not at all, you know, and and those that are up are either working some kind of a graveyard job or in some kind of trouble. Exactly. So exactly. Well, listen, uh, this has been a fantastic conversation. I'm really glad you're able to share. I'd like to hear about the publishing of your most recent book. When is it coming out or is it out already?

Stigma, Society, And Support

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Wrong side out came out December 29th. Okay, and it is doing very well. It's got 31 reviews on Amazon now, not like a 4.7 rating or something like that. I checked it earlier, checked it yesterday, and it it I get calls from people asking, the goal is to get with this is basically self-published. Okay. Um, and the goal is to get with a traditional publisher, not only for this book, but for my other books. I'm a I consider myself a serious writer.

unknown 25:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

I've been writing for a long time. I do I had worked other jobs when I could, and I've been I've got my own business right now, a short-term rental, short-term vacation rental business, and it's doing fine. Um, but I'm capable of doing that. It's a pretty big responsibility. I mean, it's not the hugest, but for somebody like me who hadn't done much, right? You know, you know, I I live in fear of them reading this book.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Right, right, right. This is the guy we're gonna rent our issue spot from. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Right, right. I mean, yeah, it's the truth. I mean, I told I tell people, I'm like, yeah, if I read this book, I wouldn't let this person manage my buildings, but you know, that's neither here nor there.

Advice For Seeking Treatment

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Well, you know, I think there's two things happening. I think the world is is a lot more chaotic than it ever has been. And I I think family um support groups are are fractioned, and it it's harder to find real support in a in a world where we don't talk to each other the way we used to. Um, but at the same time, I think the the rise in mental illness is also because of more people getting diagnosed. I think, I think, you know, when I was a kid, I they called me hyperactive, you know, trying to put me on medicine. I think fortunately my parents said no, and and I was able to manage my crazy brain by just keeping busy. And I was probably right on the edge of something, but not on the other side of it. And I was able to, you know, I'm still able to manage myself by keeping busy, but I keep myself busy, that's for sure. But I think a lot of people find themselves just on the other side of that fence, and without some kind of help or or even awareness of the of the situation, you end up just making more bad choices more easily, I think, and and finding yourself in a worse way. So what would you say, you know, if somebody is going through life and you know, we find ourselves being victims sometimes, you know, oh, nothing's fair, people don't give me a fair shake, and you're not looking at what you're doing. Um what would you say to somebody who's maybe considering uh looking into some kind of treatment or or getting diagnosed? Or, you know, what's what would your message be to somebody like that?

Audio Release And Access

SPEAKER_00 27:30

My message would be, well, if you've got if you've got extreme illness like me, you can't, I mean, you you people tell you. If people tell you you need to be on medication, they're most likely telling you the truth. Got it. All right. I mean, if if they're not telling you you need to be on medication, take it over the grain of salt. I mean, if you're not on medication already, but I will tell you that just take your medication. Read it. I mean, you read my book. I mean, I'm not telling, I'm not selling my book. The whole point of the book is I'm crazy, but for 20 years I argued with myself. And you read this book, and there's no there's no arguing about it, there's no doubt about it. I mean, I was listening to it, you know, having it read to you by somebody else when I did the audio, it's painful. It's painful to hear that stuff. When is that coming out? Um it is out December 29th. It's currently on Amazon. When is the audio version? I'm not sure. I am literally halfway listening to it right now. Soon I just gotta approve it, is what I gotta do. All right. Well, hurry up and approve it because I listen to it. I'm gonna improve it this week. I'm gonna improve it this week. I don't currently listen to audio books, but everybody says audio books are the way to go these days, and my book is kind of audio because I can do something else while I'm listening to them.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

And when you're reading, I mean I read too, but yeah, you should read a lot more, but I did a lot less. And yeah, now I got a lot more to do, so I listen to more books.

Purpose, Business, And Daily Choices

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Well, I've enjoyed it, I've enjoyed listening to it. This is the first one I've listened to, like I said, and this is my book, but like you said, you can kind of walk around and yeah, little tours and yeah, and you know, I can listen to a book, and yeah, you know, I mean it's like my housekeepers listen to tapes, books on tape all the time for my short-term rental vacation. They're like, they're the ones that told me that you gotta get an audio. I might, I might even really listen to it.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. All right, well, why don't you tell us once again how um people can find the book and uh how they can reach out to you? You know, you ever thought about I don't know, uh in some way, kind of counseling folks when when you you know, I'm I know a lot of people share experiences the way you have, and a lot of times when we go through something like I just I just overcame cancer. I spent the last year and a half battling, almost dying, and all of that. But now I talk to people that understand that and I can help them.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Where before my daughter, my dad, my father passed away cancer when I was a 17.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Well, I I I now understand it, and I I've learned some things to help maybe some people stay alive longer. And and so I I know you have um, you know, your books are certainly gonna do that, but sometimes people just want to reach out and you know have some words. Are you interested in something like that or no?

Closing Thanks And Sign‑Off

SPEAKER_00 30:21

I'm really not. My goal with the book is is I'm really not very sensitive for counseling. I didn't like counseling, I didn't like being in counseling myself. I know that didn't help, and that was my problem, not theirs. Sure. Um, and it would have helped been helpful if I'd been in counseling because it probably wouldn't have lasted as long. Right, right. But um well, yeah, yeah, right. Well, I have I'll tell you what I my goal is with the book. Well, the the after the book is this is my goal is to live a normal life and be an inspiration to people, you know, a small inspiration to people who who are think they can't do more than they can. You know, I tell other people that I've started a business like that, I don't start. I mean it's established kind of at least a couple years, I mean it's going. And um, you know, people are like, oh my gosh, that's you know, it's good. It's pretty tough because you got to be on your toes every day. Right. It's not a hard business, but I do have to do something every day. I can't check out, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Right. Well, it it it keeps you making those good choices. Yes, it does. I love it. Well, Benton, it's been a uh riveting conversation. I I've really enjoyed talking to you, and um um I want to thank you for joining us on the show today. Yes, thank you. I enjoyed it. Excellent. Well, this has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine. I want to thank all of our listeners for making this show possible, and we will see you next time.