Five Simple Steps to connect easily with Your Neighbour
While we have all heard about the popular quote “Love Thy Neighbour”, it has always been a difficult one to practice and execute in real life. How many of us take that extra-effort to know our immediate neighbours and engage with them in the real sense of the word? Our busy and fast-paced lives are divided between family and work, barely leaving any space to socialise with our neighbours. When there is any kind of emergency at home or in the family, we always rush to our neighbours for help. It is always nice to share a comfortable relationship with next-door neighbours, but first it is important to become a good neighbour yourself to others.
Here’s how this can be done easily without making a major effort to establish yourself as a good and reliable neighbour everyone would love to have:
- Be Social: Your busy work schedule and managing the home may leave you with very little time to socialise, but remember your neighbour is the first point-of-contact in case there is an issue at home. Take that first step and introduce yourself if you are new to the locality. Sport your best smile and invite them into your new home for a chat or a coffee. Break the ice without waiting for them to do it and approach your neighbour.
- Interact Regularly: Get speaking to your neighbours when you bump into them in the lift or in the lobby. Find time to ask them about their children and work and before you know it you could get chatting about everything under the sun. Don’t project yourself as a snob as this will isolate you from others too. Keep your ego aside while you call on them and watch them reciprocate the next time.
- Be Understanding: Always offer help. Solve any issues they face and you will have found a friend in your neighbour. Maintaining healthy relations with neighbours is simple and does not need a huge effort. Keep the television/music system volume at desirable levels and keep pets within the home. Keep your surroundings clean which will encourage others to follow suit.
- Maintain necessary distance: You wouldn’t like it if you had someone constantly at your door, being nosy and gossiping about others, would you? Follow the same practice and respect your neighbour’s privacy. Overindulgence can kill a good relationship especially with next-door neighbours, so keep distance and mind your own business. Giving unsolicited advice may rub people the wrong way so be careful in this area.
- Respect Privacy: Imagine how painful life would be if you had your neighbour in your home at odd hours of the day, chattering away about irrelevant things? Similarly, it is a good thing to understand your neighbour’s lifestyle, work hours and preferences. Be aware of the thin line between being friendly and being intrusive about an individual’s personal life. Don’t visit them at odd hours, simply because you are free. Respect their private life and you will find that they will do so too.
Take these simple steps and you will be amazed how easy life becomes, in the company of neighbours who are friends too. You will create a meaningful and mutually-beneficial relationship with your neighbours that will easily stand the test of time.
