This is part 4 of my ongoing series in which I share more about certain areas of my life.

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I can still remember back in the elementary school days when we would do group projects. In those days, I thought that the whole thing was pretty much a joke. Not only did I think that the group projects were a joke, I thought that the different roles assigned to the children were too.

Usually, I would try to take the easiest gig, so I would try to make myself the “encourager” or the “go-for.” Since the “go-for” would have to go get different things that the group needed, the “encourager” was obviously the easier of those two. I know that the “leader” job was basically bossing the rest of the group around and could seem easy, but bossing schoolchildren isn’t always easy, plus the “leader” had the responsibility of making sure that group completed their project.

It’s true, in those days I thought that being an “encourager” was just a joke, but as I grew, so did my understanding on the matter.

Obviously, there is a lot in the world that can get people down. Discouragement and despair seem to be waiting around every corner some days, and the people we meet don’t always help the situations. Time and time again I’ve met people who just want to make fun of others and put them down. I think that we may have even met some of them on steemit.

With all the negative people and trolls in the world and online, encouragement can be hard to come by. In some ways, @papa-pepper has almost become an “anti-troll.”

In this unpredictable world where nothing is guaranteed, sometimes I like to plan for the worst and hope for best, with reality landing somewhere in-between. When it comes to my relationships and activities, I try to be a reasonable level of positive. Too many people that I know have what I would call good influences in their lives. Whether they have other caring people that can turn to or not, I want ot be one. In my activities, I want to have things be better because I was there, and not make things worse for others.

Here on steemit, it is very easy to get discouraged too, so once we were able to share what we were about on our home page, I listed “Encourager” as one of the things that @papa-pepper does. It’s not because I was attempting to brand myself that way, but because I had often been told, and thanked, by other users that I was encouraging to them. My helpful, caring interaction with others here lead to them finding me encouraging, so I figured that I would list it.

The images and gifs in this post are ones that I like to periodically leave as replies on the posts of other steemians. A vote doesn’t always mean that much, especially when it is worth very little, so I like to leave replies too. (You don’t get over 11,000 “posts” in steemit without leaving comments.) To be creative and encouraging, I made a variety of gifs and images just to encourage others.

@papa-pepper has been pretty successful here on steemit, but I still get down fairly often. I don’t let it show too much and certainly don’t let it consume or define me, but there are things that I too find discouraging. The votes and comments of others are so encouraging to me, so I try to do likewise and encourage others here.

One way that I try to encourage others is by coming up with contests or group activities. My recent Open Mic entry was on example of something that was both a contest and a group activity. In the contest I asked for others to help me write a song, and promised to pay the winners with some STEEM. Then, in a generous manner, I decided that everyone won, and used all the entries for the song, giving all that entered 5 STEEM just for trying.

Since I have earned a lot of STEEM in my time here, giving some away in contests is one way that I can use STEEM or SBD to encourage others. I like the contest ideas too, because the entries can also provide post contest, so even those who do not win the contest could still make something off of their entries.

Though limited time and internet access doesn’t always allow me too, I also like to periodically drop encouraging Papa-Pepper Wild Cards on people’s posts. These are where I encourage the authors of posts or comments by paying them some STEEM or SBD out of my own wallet. Often, I wish that there was more that I could do to inspire and encourage others, but I still like to do what I can.

I’m glad that there are some things that I can do, and that I can be encouraging to others that I know. I’m also blessed to see others getting inspired to encourage others too. @kus-knee has been throwing bones out for a while now to help encourage others, which was excellent to see.

I know that we can all get discouraged and struggle at times, but let’s do our best to set a better example, be helpful, and encourage others when we can.

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FULL STEEM AHEAD!

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TO CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS POSTS IN THIS SERIES, CLICK THE LINKS BELOW:

GOING DEEPER WITH PAPA: INTRODUCTION

GOING DEEPER WITH PAPA: THE WILD-MAN

GOING DEEPER WITH PAPA: THE GARDENER

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(click link above for more info on Operation Translation)

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The long-term purpose of this account is to help provide the necessary funds to live a self-sufficient lifestyle at home with my family.