How has 2020 treated you?

What a year it’s been but we have almost made it to the end of 2020. We asked the Te Atatu Toasted whānau to tell us how you had fared in these turbulent times and you answered in your droves. Thanks to everyone who took part in The Kiwi Welfare Check survey last month.

There’s no denying this year has brought a few challenges for most of us, but it’s also served to remind us of the things we are thankful for. When we asked you to pick the top three things that have made you grateful in 2021, three quarters (75 per cent) of you were happy to be living in New Zealand.

A few people expanded on that thought to comment about the good decisions our politicians and health officials made in the face of a global pandemic.

Half of you (53 per cent) indicated one of your top reasons for feeling grateful was that you and your family and friends were in good health, and 37 per cent of people who took part in the survey chose the fact they still had a job as a reason to be thankful.

More than a third of you (35 per cent) selected the support of family and friends in your top three reasons for feeling blessed and 30 per cent chose being able to spend more time with family.

It was also great to hear that at least one Te Atatu Toasted fan found romance in 2020. A big congratulations to the person who is grateful that they met up with a childhood love. “We have clicked all over again and older love is wonderful.” And we are sending best wishes for a wonderful Christmas to the woman who shared she was grateful to be reunited with her British husband who was stuck in Singapore for eight months!

When it came to sharing the challenges you faced, almost half of you (49 per cent) put missing family and friends in your top three. Social isolation was also tough for many of us – 36 per cent of those surveyed selected it as one of the most difficult things about 2020. Not being able to travel overseas was a real hardship for 32 per cent of you, and the restrictions Covid caused on events and social activities such as eating out were a top bugbear for 29 per cent of people surveyed.

About a quarter of you (26 per cent) indicated that going backwards financially was one of your biggest difficulties this year and a fifth of you (22 per cent) selected home schooling as a top challenge! That figure was identical when it came to working from home – 22 per cent of those surveyed chose that as one of their top three challenges.

Some of the personal challenges you told us about revealed we have some real heroes in our Te Atatu Toasted community. We are so grateful for those of you who kept working in the health sector or other essential industries despite your concerns about the virus and your own health. Having a baby in lockdown made it onto the list for a few people and we hope it’s gotten easier and that you now have access to more family support.

Our hearts go out to those of you who shared that you lost a loved one during lockdown and we acknowledge the many parents in our network who struggled with being cooped up at home with very young children to care for, often while juggling work commitments. Life was also tough for those of you supporting a family member with a disability or mental illness, with some of you revealing you were unable to take a break, especially during the lockdowns.