52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 46

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Text, call, or visit a neighbor who seems isolated and may be experiencing loneliness during this holiday season.

Happy holidays, friends! We hope this neighboring tip finds you and yours full of joy and celebrating safely!

It’s the holiday season, and on a “normal” year, while this season often brings feelings of joyfulness for many, it may also present feelings of isolation or loss for many others. Some are mindful of family or friends who have passed on around this time or in the past year. Others are not able to visit family or friends over the holidays for a variety of reasons. And that’s on a “normal” year! It’s 2020! It goes without saying that this holiday season is a bit different and that so many are unable to be with their family and friends. Sadly, there may just be more isolation this holiday, but let’s not let there be more loneliness!

This week, we would encourage you to take action in order to help your block resist that loneliness. First, we would encourage you to think about your various neighbors. Have any lost a family member or friend in the last year due to covid? Are any who normally travel and spend the holiday season with family staying home and spending the holidays alone? If the answer to either of these questions is yes for any one of your neighbors, we would encourage you to intentionally check in and catch up with that neighbor. We know it takes a bit more intentionality in the midst of this pandemic (and the colder weather), but we would encourage you to visit them, if possible. When you do, make sure you practice physical distancing, as again, our number one priority as neighbors in the midst of this pandemic is to do everything we can in order to help our neighbors be healthy! We would encourage you to knock on your neighbor’s door or ring their doorbell and then walk a good distance away for a distanced, in-person conversation. As always, please be mindful that your neighbors may have very different coronavirus boundaries than you do, and we ask that you respect those boundaries. If they would rather not visit in person, or if the weather is not super conducive for an in-person visit, we would encourage you to call or text the neighbor. Checking in via call or text is still so meaningful! And, if you’re feeling really energized, maybe you even bring them a holiday dish! As always with dishes, please practice good pandemic hygiene with the preparing, maintain physical distancing with the delivering, and also tell your neighbor what is in the dish before they eat it, in order to be mindful of food sensitivities or allergies.

As you check in with your neighbor(s) by text, call, or visit, we would encourage you to simply ask how they are doing and then do your best to be present with them as they answer. They may just want to talk about the weather, but they may also want to talk about coronavirus, their changed holiday plans, or some of the grief they are experiencing. We would encourage you to simply be a good listening and encouraging presence and just see where the conversation goes from there! Again, our neighbors may be experiencing some grief during this holiday season, so we want to be extra intentional not to pry and instead just allow our neighbors to share what they desire and feel comfortable with sharing. This holiday season, let’s resist loneliness with listening!

Once again, happy holidays to you and yours, and...happy neighboring!