Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing as a rigorous way to live

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Rigorous for me-I had a long way to go. Maybe not for others. It might be a
bit strong of a word.

It does save time and stress, in many ways. But you have to understand that
you will be in closer quarters with everyone. That means more fun and
sometimes more stress. You deal with issues that you would otherwise sweep
under the carpet, like kids making noise and mess, neighbors planting things
you don't like, etc. If you are the kind of person who refuses to try to
look at things(and yourself) objectively, you will be very frustrated at
having to make decisions with a group of people and not just your nuclear
family.

It's not group therapy; you can always go home and shut the door. But it
requires more of you. Sometimes, it's a picnic, others, not! Overall, my
life is far superior now to what it was before. Far.

The work is not over when you move in-be prepared.
--
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California

----------
>From: "Hans Tilstra" <tilstra [at] smartchat.net.au>

> How often would cohousing feel like a rigorous way to live? Is this the
> consequence of aspiring for a cutting edge therapeutic communities with a
> cohousing blueprint in second place?
>
> McCamant & Durrett's book seemed more intended to design the traffic flow
> for daily "how are you" and "who's cooking tonight?", rather than terse
> debates about whether or not common funding should go to spa pools.
>
> Hence my image about the "co" element of cohousing is more akin tositting on
> the couch of TV sitcom Friends' Central Perk, with the main infringements
> might be to ask someone not to smoke next to me. I would hope that whilst
> the development stages would require hard work, the resulting community
> would clearly result in savings in time & stress.
>
>
> Hans

_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l