Why Are Neighbours Important?

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We’ve come from valuing our neighbors as our lives depended on them, to wanting nothing to do with the entire neighborhood today. As the pendulum inevitably swings back to maintain balance, it’s important we proactively engage in neighborly relationships ahead of time.

Neighbors are our nearest therefore most high-value resource for future quality of living. Other people are our greatest assets. When our greatest assets are in close proximity there is a lesser cost associated with utilizing them.

As life’s necessities increase in price, localizing our lives will be the most reliable way to thrive. Unsustainable practices may cause the current sourcing of basics to become unavailable.

Establishing neighborly relationships before it’s a necessity can be the difference between surviving or thriving. In the face of change, an established root system is most likely to keep a tree upright through a storm.

Most people today are afraid of their neighbors becoming invasive to our peace and privacy. Likely because it has happened before. As a result, we sit back and put all our trust in money and global markets to avoid starting any unwanted social interaction.

Maybe for some, this will work, but is this the best way forward?

How Can Neighbors Help Each Other?

To find out the ways our neighbors can be useful we have to explore to discover what could be there. Avoid assuming all neighbors are unhelpful people.

Neighbors can help each other with an increased quality of life, food security, neighborhood safety, and emergencies. Proactive neighborhood communities that help each other regularly have an advantage for withstanding change and crises in general.

Increased Quality of Life

Through my childhood I learned that neighbors in the right area can become life-long best friends! This unbeatable friendship really elevated my quality of life as I struggled to socialize in school.

We were able to hang out every day because we were just 3 doors away. I often hesitated to hang out with anyone that required transportation until I learned how to use the bussing system in the city we lived in. In an effort not to burden my parents with the time and cost to drive me places.

Looking back, I am thankful for all the neighborhood kids we had to hang out with because saving energy is not only great for our families, but reduces energy output and cost of living as a society. A big part of quality living are lower costs. Who wouldn’t want to work less to enjoy more?

This doesn’t mean everyone needs to be best friends with every neighbor. How close you should be with your neighbors depends on a few important things.

High Quality Food Security

A plan to be less reliant on our current fragile food system is in anyone’s best interest who enjoy access to healthy high quality food. Who else values your well-being more than yourself, the people who know you, and depend on you personally? Much of our available food has become undernourishing because profits are the goal for the production of it.

Regardless of the intent of the house of cards, taking things into our own hands to sustain our livelihoods is nothing but beneficial.

Community gardens also lower the cost of living. A community effort makes gardening less work for everyone involved while making healthy food abundantly available when in season.

Safer Neighborhoods

A sense of community in a neighborhood increases it’s safety. When people generally know of each other on an acquainted level or beyond, they generally watch out or each other’s properties.

No one but your neighbors are around to see what’s going on with your home when you aren’t there.

Quick Emergency Response

In emergency situations, no one will be there faster than your neighbors. The proximity you share with them is an underappreciated asset.

Neighbors who understand the social dynamics and capabilities of each other are much better equipped to help each other through unexpected devastation. People with some amount of personal connection care about helping each other. Personal connections make neighborhoods stronger in times of vulnerability.

Day-to-Day Living Assistance

I have saved thousands of dollars through mutually beneficial neighbor relationships.

The best example is when I became acquainted with Jessica four doors down. She and her dog took care of Sadie every day for just $5 a day.

Thanks to a mutually beneficial relationship with a neighbor:

1. I saved huge on ever needing to fork out daycare costs plus the time and fuel to get her there
2. Sadie got spared the trauma that doggy daycare can cause
3. The neighbor’s dog had a suitable playmate
4. The neighbor got paid to socialize her shy dog

The elderly can especially benefit from putting forth effort into neighborly relationships. As you get older, commuting becomes more difficult and if the people around you love you, it’s an honor to appreciate.

The Future

Some people might have the funds to carry them through to the end of life, or are planning it that way, but that luxury could be a very different story for next generations. While their survival into time isn’t completely dependent on the old, its up to parents to be a role model for young one’s social success.

There are many possibilities moving forward and it’s important children have the ability to recognize an execute the all of best options without the social hinderances many feel today. Teaching your children to connect with and value their nearest neighbors rather than be afraid of their invasion has benefits for you too! Making friends nearby means less driving for visits.

Why is Having Good Neighbors Important?

You are more likely to have good neighbors by learning how to be a good neighbor yourself. Your actions will foster reciprocation from most others around you. As you build the qualities of a good neighbor, coherence of an overall respectful community can form with time and patience.

Good neighbors are enjoyable, safe, and helpful. These characteristics are important to our well-being which is essential for a good living environment. Having respectful neighbors means you don’t have to tiptoe around rude, cold, or invasive people. 

Finding good neighbors will take time and patience. Until you nurture somewhat of a relationship, there are always be unknowns. Strangers simply don’t know what to expect from each other. You don’t know what you don’t know!

How Do You Get Your Neighbors to Like You?

It’s tough when it seems our neighbors ignore us and seem afraid to get to know us. The living environment can feel quite lonely if it feels like none of the neighbors like you. To change this and get our neighbors to like us we need to look beyond the needs of ourselves.

Your Neighbors will like you when you uphold the type of relationship they want from you. Being liked by your neighbors is not about you but about everyone you want respect from.

First and foremost:

• Respect their space and privacy without question
• Acknowledge and adhere to their expressed & unexpressed boundaries
• Keep the peace
• Ask permission first

While you are being social:

• Actively listen
• Inquire further
• Show your interest in what they say
• Seek understanding
• Offer to help

In order to truly get a neighbor to like in the right way, you need to build some trust and start embracing habits that make you a good neighbor!

This article was originally published on foodforestliving.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.