First, I absolutely love your username, 10/10! On top of others' impact on you when they give you some kudos or encouragement I'd like to add that [authentically and honestly] offering those kudos and encouragement to someone else also feels pretty incredible, compounding the effect.
And it really is important to reiterate the unintended, outsized impact your positive comments can have on the recipient. I've personally had 3-4 different people who I've known or worked with throughout my life come up to me years later and tell me how some [to me] small, offhand positive comment or compliment I'd given them had completely changed the course of their thinking on something or had kept echoing in their mind ever since.
I had had no idea until they told me.
So I guess it's also equally important, if somebody else has positively impacted you like that, to let them know what they did! It will likely completely surprise and encourage them.