We had a seriously good show on Monday! I think the topic of the week deserves the credit for that. Encouragement is so near to all of our hearts and it's something that we all value very strongly here at BuddyUP. There was a wide range of posts, all touching onto a slightly different perspective or take on the topic.

We're going to feature the winners of the week shortly and we will also share the rest of the fantastic posts afterwards. Keep reading on so you can find out how you can get involved next week, the topics going to be very interesting!

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_{source - photo by archaique chang}

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The votes have been rolling in from the attendees of the show and we have the posts ready to share with you all.

The top two voted writers will 'level up'. When a member has leveled up, they will receive a daily upvote from the BuddyUP account at 50%. The member keeps their level for 2 weeks, unless they level up again on DITO within those 2 weeks. Every time you level up, you will receive an additional 10% on your daily vote.

The writer with the most votes will be resteemed straight after this post. This is so we can all look back at the BuddyUP blog and see the winning posts from each week.

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And the winners are...

The votes have been piling in, along with the amazing comments from the participants, so it's time for us to count them up and share the top writers this week. We haven't received votes from everybody in the channel yet, but the show must go on. Make sure you drop by to the #drop-in-the-ocean-voting channel next week, if you have access, so you can leave your vote on your favorite post.

Let's not hang around any longer, this week's winners are...

@penderis

If you know @penderis, you'll be aware of his style. His personality and flare have a distinct flavor, which injects humor and realism in an interesting and moreish manner. Even though he believes he's no wordsmith, this post expresses otherwise.

His post on Encouragement takes us into some depth about the language behind the word along with his thoughts on the meaning and execution of it. Encouragement comes from the language, and the response (or lack of) received by someone or something. He highlights towards the end of the post, something very powerful which seemed to reach out strongly to all the mother bears of BuddyUP.

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@penderis has been moderating our server for some time now and he is always one of the first to engage and bring some understanding of a situation if it ever crops up. His comments and input to a discussion are always considerate of the other side of the coin and on countless occasions, he's brought light to a different perspective for myself and others within BuddyUP. He is a strong asset to our community and we appreciate his efforts massively.

Are you prepared for some humor, feels and genius, all packaged elegantly in a little box? You can open it right here (just make sure someone doesn't force you into the box once you've opened it...).

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@tamala

Sesame Street is brought to you today by the word: ENCOURAGE

Are you ready to learn?! This post by @tamala has some fantastic little pieces of knowledge packed into it. She highlights some elements of encouragement which aren't considered day-to-day and delivers a strong post which may leave you contemplating a thing or two by the end.

@Tamala points out what encouragement means in the middle of her post and how it somewhat differs from motivation.

What exactly is encouragement? It differs from motivation because it comes from external sources. It could be someone's words, it could be something you read or watched or it could just be something you saw in nature.

She ended the post around something close to her values and the topic of Encouragement seemed to highlight further how passionate she is about guiding people to a healthier, more fulfilling life.

I know first hand how passionate she is about this and it was a kick up the butt for myself, regarding smoking, when I read this post. She highlights how these tragedies of ill-health are neglected and shunned away until it's too late and creates a subtle, yet powerful, call-to-action for anybody who needs to check their current circumstances and make some radical changes.

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Yet again, @tamala is another member of the community who engages readily within the server and offers help and assistance for anybody who needs it. She is always dropping us helpful links and articles which help us gain a broader idea of our development as people. If you're feeling on the edge about your health or current situation and you want to make some change, get in touch with @tamala. I'm positive she will help you in the right direction.

Head over and join Elmo, so you can snap up some of the amazing knowledge shared by @tamala, right here.

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@monchhichi23

Hold on... three winners this week? How did @monchhichi23 manage to slip back into the winners again?

The votes came in and at the time of writing this, @monchhichi23 and @tamala both shared the same number of votes! What a way to highlight the topic this week, 3X the Encouragement!

In regular honest fashion, @monchhichi23 shares her thoughts on the topic through her experiences and gives us another opportunity to connect with her through her life. Yet another strong perspective changer within this post and something to think about on varying levels (which is demonstrated through the writing and expression of the post alone).

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Week after week, you can see the progress and strides forward @monchhichi23 is taking to polish up her writing and presentation. The formatting and imagery within the posts mix well with the quality of the writing. We definitely have a superb quality writer in the making over here, three weeks in a row says something!

Time to dive into the third piece of content shared with us by @monchhichi23 in DITO, you can find it right here.

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Current DITO standings

NAME	LEVEL	TIME
@monchhichi23	3 (70%)	2 weeks
@andysantcics48	1 (50%)	1 weeks
@penderis	1 (50%	2 weeks
@tamala	1 (50%)	2 weeks

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Our runners up for this week

The increase in posts this week has really filled up our runners-up list! I've noticed some people are using Drop in the Ocean - 'topic' as their title, this isn't compulsory and I just want to let you all know that you can name your post whatever you like. This might make it more endearing for somebody to click on if you are in the runners-up portion.

Create the title around your writing and give the post that little extra guidance to help someone become intrigued. As long as you're using 'dropintheocean' as the tag, you can do whatever you want!

There were some incredible posts this week and the effort that was put into them didn't go unmissed. The comments sections of these posts are amazing and the support gained from taking part is winning in itself. Head over to some of the posts and witness the good vibes for yourself.

Now let's see the runners up!

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@andysantics48 - Encouragement

@lymepoet - NEVER TOO OLD TO CHALLENGE YOURSELF!

@poetrybyjeremy - Step Stool – [Drop in the Ocean: Encouragement]

@mandalaflower - Do you treat other people like they matter?

@coachjj - Drop In The Ocean: Encouragement

@dreemsteem - Encouragement : A Drop in the Ocean Post

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How do you get involved?

Have you been reading through and wondering how you can get involved with our community/show? Below I've listed the steps to take, so you can jump into the action and share your perspective and views, with all of us here at BuddyUP.

• Head over to our BuddyUP server. You can do this by following the SafeLink post here.

• Think about the topic for next week, which is...

CONTEXT

• Write a post about that topic and come by to the Drop in the Ocean show on Monday (20:00 GMT) to present it and join the conversation.

If you are new and you don't have a membership to BuddyUP, you will receive free access if you present in Drop in the Ocean.

The final and the most important piece of information is... do not publish your post until Monday. This is so we can give you all the best amount of exposure possible on your posts and also so you get paid out on the day of the show; so you can come back with an even bigger smile on your face!

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_{source - photo by jonathan daniels}

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You can come and speak to any of us in #the-pond (general chat channel in our server) or if you have any further questions, you can direct message myself, @dreemsteem, or @penderis, and we will get in touch with you.

We're looking forward to seeing you all next week for the fourth show, clear your schedule, Drop in the Ocean is here to stay!

We all grow together

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This has been @calumam, thanks for reading.

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All headers are sourced from unsplash.com or from the authors post.
_{top image: source - photo by claude piché}