What Makes Tribesteemup a Powerful Community?

What is community empowerment? Why is it so important? How do we find ways to achieve it?

Community is something I have craved for pretty much my entire adult life, but what does that mean? What is community? Is a neighborhood a community? What exactly am I desiring when I say I want more community? Does that differ from what other people want from community?

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Maybe I should answer a few questions before I ask any more. I don’t think I can determine what community empowerment is until I determine what community is. Ultimately, I think this is a very individual perspective. For me community is a group of people who support each other. My community is the people that I know have my back and will support and listen to me. We share joys and struggles. We can trust each other to be honest and also loving. Ideally we would live close together and share meals and chores and raise each other’s children. We would bring meals for every birth, every death, every day of celebration. We would be shoulders to cry on and fists to bump. However, I have found community like I haven’t had in years here on steemit, so while close proximity would be nice, it’s not necessary.

Lest I get too deeply nostalgic or sad, I will move on to community empowerment. Empowering one another means supporting, encouraging, helping each other gain confidence. It’s also crucial in my mind that it be authentic. I see it mostly with children, but some people also give out fake or contrived praise or encouragement to adults. I see that as patently unhelpful. We know when we’re not at our best, and it must be our community that offers a hand up. Sometimes encouragement means offering feedback on the ways another can improve. A balance is good. I have been partnered with someone who is exceptionally critical for many years now, and that’s not helpful either, so it’s always good to offer a lot of encouragement and positivity as well.

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I want to make a slight sidetrack here because I think this is important, and it relates to empowerment and the entire Steemit community. There has been a lot of talk recently about downvotes and whether they are beneficial or harmful. I know there are some really strong feelings and opinions about this. My .02 is this. If we are trying to model anarchy by not having rules, we need to be able to shape our community in another way. As an extreme example, if someone came in posting rape porn or spewing white supremacy and encouraging genocide, we need a way to say, “Hell no. Not welcome in my community.” Personally I think the downvote is a great way to do this. It is similar to voting with our dollars. If I don’t like the way a company operates, I don’t buy their stuff. That’s sort of like just not voting. If I find them despicable, then I tell anyone who will listen how gross they are. Like Nestle, who kills babies if you didn’t know that. That’s like a downvote. It’s not a law. It’s not censorship. It’s simply saying, “I don’t want this in my community.” I think sometimes, as anarchists, perhaps we don’t want to give anyone even a hint of being regulated on, and sometimes this results in us not honoring our personal boundaries and preferences. You are free to spew hate. I am free to tell you to shut up and gtfo of my house. So, in my humble opinion, the downvote empowers the community to set its own boundaries and preferences. Of course this will vary from community to community. That’s what is so great about all the smaller communities within Steemit. We can connect with and support like minded people!

Now, why is community empowerment so important? Connection to our tribe is a basic human need. Of course some need it more than others, but we all need to be in relationship with people that make our hearts sing. We must empower each other because it is in encouragement and support that we grow to be our best selves. As we grow, we encourage others. They grow, and then we all grow some more. A community of people supporting and empowering one another is revolutionary. Instead of being in competition or fighting or criticizing, we are nurturing and evolving. This is how we change the world. This is how we solve problems. This is how we accomplish our goals and help our brothers and sisters do the same.

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So, how do we achieve it? I think we only need to commit to it. When we find other people we resonate with, we need only offer them our support, encouragement, and confidence in their ability to navigate their way upward. We let them know we believe in them, point out their strengths, and give them the freedom to soar.

This is what is happening in @Tribesteemup. There is financial support, and that is crucial. Anyone who says money isn’t important must still be living with their mom. As members of @tribesteemup, we all support each other. That financial support is also encouragement. It is a token that we are doing a good job and helping move the world in a good direction with our writing. There’s also a lot of verbal nurturing. Everyone is kind and helpful. In this environment, I see a lot of brilliant brainstorming as well. When everyone is all juiced up, bright minds light on fire, and sparks shoot from one person to another. The number of clever ideas and solutions I see on the Tribesteemup discord page amazes me. A good bit of it is way over my head, but I’m incredibly grateful for those with minds like that.

Empowerment is a core principal of @tribesteemup in fact. Started by @kennyskitchen, we are united in our shared conversations around

And anything else that involves beneficial change in this world.

If you are interested in finding out more, check out @tribesteemup. For more information on how to follow the curation trail or delegate, check out this post for all the details. This allows you to help yourself and empower a beautiful, positive community of world changers.

Much love, y’all!

As always, all pics are mine or pixabay unless otherwise noted.

I’m a passenger on the @ecotrain, as well as a member of @teamgirlpowa and @steemitmamas. All three are also wonderful communities and worth taking a look at!