Relationship struggles

[fearfulexchange]

Question to other single parents.
How do you find the time after parenting and working to engage in a relationship?
I've just dipped my toe into a relationship after many years of being single and it completely wiped me out!
I had to come out of the relationship because I didn't have time to fit it in and I was exhausting myself.
How have others managed?
Does it get easier as the children get older?
I have no idea how to do this.
I don't have any outside support, it's just me. So am massively restricted.

They need to know that plans will change at short notice.

How old is your child / children?

I'm sorry to hear your relationship didn't work out Op.
Were you finding the sheer 'mental head space' the relationship was occupying to be too demanding? Did your ex partner have children himself?

I have a newborn, solo mother by choice with a sperm donor, and I have been very close to a male friend throughout my treatment. We have recently transitioned to a romantic dynamic within our relationship.

I guess the difference is that he is someone I've known for a while rather than a brand new person off the internet. I want to make time for me and a romantic relationship; it's nothing like my child free days, but it seems to be going okay (it's very early days). He appears to understand my restrictions, I'm also alone with no help from any family. Friends busy with their own lives, though they do try and make time for me but contact is less frequent than I'd like it to be. I'm 40 and really want to enjoy this relationship as much as possible now/today, and he's a really good person. I'm dreading the menopause so I'm enjoying what I've got at the moment. If I were to wait until my child is 18, I'd be 58!