10 Great Reasons to Live in Cohousing
This piece was composed by Rob Sandelin,
Sharingwood Cohousing, WA.
1. Living in community
offers security. You can rely on
your neighbors to help you, even when you
don't ask. This is huge for me, that my
family is in a safe and supportive place. My
grandmother died recently, my neighbors knew
all about it, sent cards and sympathy and
support to my family. HER neighbors didn't
even know she was sick, most of them didn't
even know her name. How many of them could
she ask to help?
2. Community offers
social opportunities. I can have
wonderful and meaningful interactions with
people I like, who are my neighbors, just by
sitting out on my porch. I really enjoy
hanging out and talking with folks about
everything, politics, the news, kids.
Sharing our histories and ourselves grows a
wonderful bond among us, I suppose much like
encounter groups do. I know more about my
neighbors history and lives and why they do
things like they do than I know about some
of my family members.
3. Supportive place
for kids to grow up. Safe, lots
of friends-both other kids and adults.
Kids can play and I know any adult in the
neighborhood will be there for them in case
of need. Fun place to be an adult, lots of
play opportunity with kids, and other
adults.
4. Great place to
collaborate with people who share similar
interests. Small groups form
revolving around shared common interests,
beer making, sewing, gardening, music, etc.
I don't have to "go" anywhere to enjoy a
beer making club, my neighbors and I can do
that. The commonhouse is great for that.
5. A sense of
togetherness and belonging. I am
part of something that is really wonderful,
it is a model for a better way to live, and
we all together are doing it. I can't
explain this in words very well but there is
a strong feeling of happiness in me that
comes from working towards a common good
that I used to get as a teacher and
environmentalist, and now get as I work with
my neighbors on a variety of projects.
6. A great restaurant
in the middle of my neighborhood, called the
common house
where I can go have dinner and great
conversation with friends.
7. Great place to
learn new things. I always wanted
to try making beer. Having a couple of
neighbors share that interest got me home
brewing. We learn and try new stuff all the
time.
8. A great place to
share ownership of things that I couldn't
really afford myself, such as a
workshop, play structure, tools, library,
etc.
9. Huge personal
resources available.
Want to know about bee keeping? I go
ask Mel, and get all kinds of info. Having
problems with my car? Mary knows lots about
such
things. Want to build a shed? Bob can give
me advice, help me scrounge materials, hell,
did half the work one Saturday. A
neighborhood like mine is a collection of 26
lifetimes worth of experience in all manner
of things. What a treasure trove!
10. Privacy.
I get ALL the great benefits of cooperative
living, and also get huge amounts of
privacy, whenever I want just by going home
and closing the door or going into the 25
acres woods that surround my house that
everybody shares ownership of.
I would say
the $ value of all those things, to me,
would be in the million dollar range. My
house cost me less than market value to
build and is worth way more than I paid for
it should I ever move to another community.
Notice I said move to another community. It
is inconceivable for me to ever move back to
a "normal" neighborhood, where everyone is a
stranger and I have to be afraid every time
my kid goes out the door. |
