Neighboring Tip of the Week - If you see a neighbor out walking, or if you bump into a neighbor while you’re out on a walk, ask them if you can walk along with them for a little while.

Hello friends! Happy Sunday to you all!

This week, we’re thinking about meaningful ways that we can safely interact with our neighbors, in-person, in the midst of this pandemic. We know the weather has been cooler for most of us, but hey, the warmer weather is coming, so we think it’s important to be thinking about how our in-person interactions might look. Again, we think these in-person interactions are so important and meaningful for our neighbors! So, this week, we propose this: If you see a neighbor out walking, or if you bump into a neighbor while you’re out on a walk, ask them if you can walk along with them for a little while.

It’s probably most ideal to experiment with this tip with neighbors whom you have already met or already know a little bit. (This one might feel a little awkward if you have not yet met the neighbor) So, if you see a neighbor out walking whom you have already met or have chatted with every so often, we would encourage you to summon some inner boldness and simply ask them if you can walk with them for a little while! This might be a little awkward or feel a little hard, and we recognize that, but we encourage you to push through it! If you have already met your neighbor, or know them a little bit, they will hopefully feel more comfortable with saying yes, and walking allows you both to be visible and hopefully helps your neighbor feel safer. If your neighbor says yes, we would encourage you to simply walk with them for as long as you would like and hopefully this is a fantastic opportunity to catch up with them! If you feel any anxiety around this, we would encourage you to do your best to relax and not feel like you have to force conversation. One of the great things about talking with a neighbor while walking around your neighborhood is that there are probably things around your neighborhood that you can talk about! Plus, walking is also an open time commitment and allows either you or your neighbor to double back towards home whenever needed. We would encourage you to just go for it! We think your neighbor will really appreciate your intentionality in asking to walk with them, and we think they will also appreciate getting to interact in person, in some capacity. And, if your neighbor says no, don’t worry! They might just not feel comfortable with doing so yet, and that’s okay! Remember, neighboring moves at the speed of trust, and sometimes, trust takes a little while to foster.

There are two important details that we ask of you as you experiment with this tip. First, please maintain physical distancing (a minimum of 6 feet of separation) as you walk with your neighbor. Walking allows for us to be outside, and keep moving, as we interact with our neighbors, but it’s also important that we maintain good physical distancing, just to continue decreasing our chances of possibly exposing our neighbors to coronavirus. Second, please also wear a mask as you walk with your neighbor. Again, this is yet another way of stopping the spread and ensuring our neighbors stay safe and healthy! So, right now, we encourage you to bundle up (as the case may be), throw on a mask, and go on a walk around your neighborhood. If you see any of your neighbors out walking, too, we encourage you to politely ask them if you can join them, and then, just see what happens! If they say yes, here’s to hanging out with them while practicing physical distancing and getting to enjoy a walk around your beautiful neighborhood! Let’s do this pandemic neighboring, people!

Happy neighboring!