Tips for Familiarizing Yourself With a New Neighborhood

Moving is stressful, and a lot of the anxiety stems from feeling adrift on an unfamiliar sea without a rudder or sail. Simple tasks like running to the post office suddenly require more complicated mental gymnastics. Where is it? What’s the best way to get there? Familiarizing yourself with your new neighborhood is the fastest way to get your bearings and feel more at home.

What should you know if moving across town — or the entire country? The following tips will get you up and running in your new hometown in no time.

Cover the Bases

One of the most stressful experiences is not knowing where to turn in an emergency — or even fill an urgent need. For example, what do you do if you can’t find your stash of prescription medications while unpacking? Here are the first places you should familiarize yourself with in your new neighborhood.

1. Locate Essential Services

Physically drive to the following locations so you know where they are and how long it takes to get there.

• Post office: To collect mail you have forwarded and establish a new PO box if you use one for privacy or business purposes
• Library: To borrow books, make copies, send faxes, participate in ongoing learning classes and access area information
• ER: in case something occurs before establishing medical care
• Emergency vet: Because your fur babies are family, too

2. Meet Your Pharmacist

Having a good relationship with your pharmacist is essential in a nation where navigating the medical system isn’t easy. If you’re among the 70% of Americans who take prescriptions daily, stop in, introduce yourself, review your records and get money-saving advice.

3. Find Convenience Stores

Where can you find almond milk for your tea at 4 a.m. if that’s when your workday starts? Most folks enjoy taking their time choosing their favorite shops, but knowing where to snag necessities in a pinch matters.

4. Explore Your Local Park

Green spaces are essential to human mental and physical health. They provide room to exercise for free. As a bonus, you also increase your vitamin D intake, boosting your immunity during the stressful moving period and relieving mental stress.

Get Your Bearings

You can’t truly discover a city behind the wheel of a car. That’s like saying you “know” London when you’ve had a few layovers at Heathrow Airport. To truly familiarize yourself with your new neighborhood, you must use your physical and mental abilities to move around in it.

5. Walk

Walking is a fun way to get to know neighbors who also take care of their health. It’s a bonus if you have a dog. Making new friends becomes easier even for introverts when strangers stop to pet your puppy, and you can keep the conversation going by asking them for insight on things to see and do in your new hometown.

6. Ride

If walking tries your patience, consider a bike ride. You’ll squeeze more exploration into a single afternoon. What if you don’t have a bike or a physical impairment renders riding impossible? Many neighborhoods allow low-speed motor vehicles to operate on public roads with posted speed limits of 35 mph or less. These often resemble golf carts or quads. A quick ride around can provide an accessible way to explore your new neighborhood at safe speeds.

7. Take Public Transportation

Knowing how to work the public transportation system in your new neighborhood is an essential skill. It also takes you past locations you might otherwise miss, as you can gaze at the scenery all you want without fear of an accident.

Form a New Network

Perhaps the hardest part of familiarizing yourself with a new neighborhood is creating a network of friends and associates. Here are four tips to help you integrate yourself.

8. Attend Community Meetings and Events

Attending city council, school board and other local meetings is a great way to meet those who make the rules in your new neighborhood. Although you might not contribute much at first out of fear of seeming like a pushy outsider, you establish yourself as someone concerned with the future of your community.

9. Host a Get-Together

Hosting a small welcome party is a fabulous way to meet new neighbors. Do you hesitate to send invitations out of concern no one will RSVP? Try this trick — pull your grill around to your driveway and let the aroma of shrimp on the barbie draw the crowd.

10. Join Local Websites

Sites like Facebook and Reddit have community pages for even small neighborhoods. Search “online community groups for” your location to join them. Also, consider downloading the Nextdoor app to acquaint yourself with neighbors and Meetup to find up-and-coming events near you.

11. Connect With Your Parks and Recreation Department

Your local parks and recreation department is as valuable as your local library as a resource. It offers various programs for all ages, including after-school activities for children that can help your little ones familiarize themselves with your new neighborhood, too. After all, they’re sure to harbor fears about meeting new friends. Facilitate the process by suggesting healthy spaces for doing so.

Know Your Neighborhood

Part of the stress of moving comes from feeling ungrounded. Familiarizing yourself with your new neighborhood eases anxiety and helps you get your bearings.

Take time to locate the necessities and form a positive social network in your new hometown. Before long, your nerves will fade, replaced by a sense of pride and belonging in your community.