What have cows got to do with Steemit, you may ask?

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Well, I was thinking about the things I'm grateful for this week and of course I had to drift to Steemit as I've been almost daily posting for a few months now and seen a few things here. I was really going to throw it in after a month or so - it didn't seem worth it to spend so much time writing and posting and not getting anywhere. I seemed to be in these little echo chambers where people were saying 'what's the point?' and 'I'm never going to get anywhere' and 'no one listens to me anyway - I've only got .02 on a post I've just spend hours on and think is pretty worthy' and so on.

I've actually watched people get so disillusioned and depressed here that they just sign off and disappear, becoming the dead followers that we wonder what happened to (if you want to see how many dead followers you have, check out Spectacles for Steemit)

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You know, Australia is only just behind Finland on the world loneliness scale. We're not meant to operate on our own, feeling disempowered in a world that doesn't seem to have our backs. Whilst I can't stress enough that the online world isn't going to provide answers to any loneliness we might have, when you're trying to make it on your own on a social media platform, no wonder people tune out and drop off and disappear - they just don't feel supported or valued and it's bound to make them feel shit and even more alone.

I've seen people write really amazing things on this platform and they're seriously upset because no one heard them at all - and this is just a confirmation of what they're experiencing in the real world! So a platform like Steemit is just going to compound that feeling of isolation and loneliness, and that sucks.

Back to cows. I was listening to an interview on the radio with a guy who wrote a book on depression and he pointed to a story about anti depression medication he'd heard about in Cambodia. The story goes something like this:

A doctor was in Cambodia researching about the land mines and the effects on the people there. He was interested in anti depressants and asked the local doctors about them. They weren't sure about them and said that they didn't need those chemicals because they already had antidepressants.

Was this a herbal remedy, perhaps?

No. They told him the story of a farmer who'd had his leg blasted off on a landmine, got an artifical limb and went back to work on the rice fields. Yet it was really painful for him and eventually he became really anxious and depressed, wouldn't get out of bed, and cried all day.

So the doctors and the neighbours sat down with him and talked to him. The current situation clearly wasn't working, so they suggested he worked as a dairy farmer and they bought him a cow, a job they thought would bring back less memories, give his life a purpose and be less painful for him.

In the years that followed, his depression entirely lifted.

The cow was the antidote. The community was the creative solution generator.

I love this story for a number of reasons - one, it takes power away from pharmaceutical companies and two, it says that depression isn't always something wrong with us but it's the situation itself. I also love the creative tinkering behind it - how can we fix this problem to make life better for the person who's doing it hard?

I loved the power of community in this story - his neighbours and doctors all got together to work out a solution. And that's what people on Steemit are doing all the time. They're figuring out ways to make this Steemworld work for the people producing good content. And it's our job to get involved and support that because despite what you might think, we're part of that community too.

So we can moan and shut down our accounts in disgust or get a bit creative about solutions to any feelings of despair on Steemit. What does our cow solution look like?

I'm pretty sure the answer is tribe.

Individually, we don't get anywhere here unless we're waiting for handouts from whales once in a while to keep us here and sucked in. Being part of a tribe that has at it's core a strong value system that supports the individual is the answer. Not only do you start feeling heard because other members of the tribe are looking out for you and responding to your work in the same way you're responding to theirs, but you're getting a bit of extra pay out too.

We also start to recognize the tribes that produce good content. @kennyskitchen 's #TribeSteemUp and #Ecotrain, driven by @eco-alex , are two of these tribes I know are worth following just for the stuff they produce. I'm also totally blessed to be accepted into them and they've definitely become cow providers because they stopped me giving up here. However even if I wasn't part of those communities, I'd consider supporting them through the curation trail or even following some of their members and up-voting or re-steeming their stuff or commenting on their work, I'm supporting the tribe solution that's helping a lot of people out in this digital universe.

I try to do that with other groups on Steemit that have great content and ideas going on. I don't have time to be actively involved in all the communities here but in recognizing this alt-cow situation, I know that I need to be part of the teams sitting around the depressed Steemian's bedside and saying hey, did you know there is another way? Do you want me to introduce you to this gorgeous looking cow? You don't have to be alone, you know. Your life here is better than you think. You're valued and you can do okay if only you can join a tribe!

TribeSteemUp is a fabulous example of a community cow solution because crew like @kennyskitchen and @jamesnc had the dream to support communities. They delegate their steempower to their tribe who write about great topics like mindfulness, permaculture, philosophy and healthy eating (to name a few!) Being a part of that tribe means that everyone gets a guaranteed vote a day. This also fulfils a higher vision too because as they are all topics we care about, we end up getting more visibility for those topics because we're supported to do so.

@eco-alex is an amazing Steemian who is working superhard to provide cow solutions for folk. I am going to write another gratitude post about the ecotrain but for now I really wanted to send him big love as its a big job he is doing to help as many as he can.. not just in Steemit but visions in the wider world too.

SO.. GRATITUDE - we're all pretty grateful and that gratitude ripples outward into the whole of Steemit. What can I do to support others, I think? How can I do things to benefit all the little tribes and communities that make up the whole here? How can I come up with cow solutions?

And if you're reading this, what colour cow would you like me to provide you with? How can I help?

It's all work in progress!

Oh yeah, and damn, I'm super grateful for cows. How could you not love a world with cows in it?

I was tagged by @canadianrenegade to:

Write a post about something you have to be positive about today - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, being thankful for your friends and family, or even being thankful for the opportunity you have been given here on Steemit - just keep it positive :)

• Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated.
• Mention three people who should do this on each day.
• Tag it with #7daypositivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post Include a picture of something positive (related to your story if possible.)
• Tip: You need to put the # in front of 7daypositivitychallenge or it will not let you use the tag.

Sorry if you've been tagged before in this challenge @crescendofpeace @shanibeer @vincentnijman - please don't feel obligated, but you've been tagged! Feel free also to totally ignore me - I promise I won't be offended, and respect your freedom to post exactly what you want. :)

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Thanks so much for stopping by! Check out the other passengers on the #ecotrain hashtag - there's some fabulous steemposts about permaculture to meditation, environmental issues to food forests - you can read more about the @ecotrain here. They have great minnow support and an ethical bot as well!

Want to find more quality posts about helping the Earth and humanity and generally making the world a better place? Check out the #tribesteemup trail.

You can read about the 8 Pillars of TribeSteemUp here