How living in a cooperative makes you a better person and enriches your life

There is simply no person who wouldn’t want to become a better version of him/herself (unless a person is not yet introduced to any kind of a personal growth initiative) and who wouldn’t like to enrich his/her life – make it meaningful and fulfilling.

Cooperative forms of housing are the utmost environments to achieve just that. And today we are holding this discussion to witness the two statements and to demonstrate the opportunities that are fulfilled by members of coops.

You are prompted to build relationships with your neighbors

It is not that common among neighbors to build relations and keep working on them. Living in a coop, each and every day you are granted a chance to interact with people and enjoy it every now and then. This spontaneous nature of interaction predisposes you to keep your mode of enthusiast and collaborator turned on.

You become used to contributing to the community

Joining coop simply means you join a mission. The mission to contribute to the development of the community or give back to it. Being a part opens up people and gives them meaning to hold on and contribution in return brings us joy and happiness. We are never short on contributing or giving – a smile, an advice, a recognition, attention, understanding, time or a hand.

You learn to make compromises and don’t get unconsciously into conflicts

Interaction with others is not an easy thing. It goes along with understanding, compromises, openness, willingness, proactiveness, consciousness, patience, and before everything peaceful attitudes. We don’t choose to fight in a coop as it consequences in a conflict We choose peace and patience by all means.

You immerse yourself in divertive environment and become truly multicultural

Diversity enriches our personalities. By being exposed to so many nationalities we get exposed to numerous ways of seeing things, doing things and at the end of the day living a life. With that we easily check what is really working smoothly (without tension) and then choose for ourselves the best ways of doing things.

You develop sociability traits

People aim into a healthy balance of being alone and avoiding loneliness. Cooperative living is a perfect place for maintaining this balance. You are predisposed to socialize with neighbors at any time and also withdraw yourself easily at the moment when you feel so.

You put the common good ahead of personal interests

One of many reasons Quebec is a great place to live is in the way the province prioritizes its interests by putting values on the front. The common good goes ahead personal interests for Quebecois. Quebecois learn to tap into mutual benefits from the very young age and cooperative housing is one of the many modes of implementing the value. After all, alone you can do so little, together we can do so much.

You practice a range of interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills is a prerequisite to success. There is an endless list of them to keep practicing from each time coomunicating with neighbours – inclusiveness, sharing, leadership, speaker skills, team building, patience, openness, communication, help.

You become experienced in management and marketing

In a coop, you manage teams and projects, you also get involved in marketing when organize all kinds of events and celebrations. Albeit, first of all you learn to manage yourself and market (sell) yourself.

You learn to interact with people in meetings

Every single day is a great occasion to interact with people. How you show up, how you get prepared for meeting people, what you get from encounters with your neighbors is all about you and not about them. When interaction is organized properly without tension, everybody wants more of them. When facing challenges, keep working on yourself. You will get better with practice.

You lead a responsible way of living

In a coop, we delegate to each other. We delegate tasks and programs. With delegation comes responsibility and devotion, because others depend on your accurate and timely manner of action. And this responsibility goes right into you DNA. It shapes your vision and thinking and reflects in activities like community gardening, secondary usage, recycling, saving resources, multiply on opportunities, etc

You role-model and shape the appropriate behavior and communication among adults for your own children

You are what you do and not what you say. The same applies to parenting. Without role-modeling to your children appropriate attitudes and contributing to the community you can’t be sure you engrave values in their personality.

You shape your image and get experienced for official interventions

In a coop, you are surrounded by those who are open to doing together something meaningful. No matter what you like to do, you can find a way to practice a range of skills to get prepared for that. It only takes passion and an appealing call. It is all up to you, no permission needed to go further in your life. Show initiative and people will join you neither in your copp or at work.

To get better in business and in life, get better yourself first. Click the link for more details about “Made by woman” value-oriented marketing and management standard.