I want a social life but I’m exhausted!

Dear Hillie:

I am 47, divorced with two children (daughter, 17 and son, 13), two dogs and a demanding full time job. Come Friday evening I am absolutely exhausted and spend most of Saturday recovering. Sunday is usually spent watching my son play football and walking the dogs or catching up with family and friends – then it is back to work! I would love to meet someone but any new relationship requires time and energy – neither of which I have. Any suggestions?

Hillie says:

In many respects you are no different to other hard working single people in that you work hard all week and have the weekends off. If you want to meet someone you will have make time for yourself and build up some energy reserves. To start with you can try to get to bed earlier during the week; aim for one hour earlier to start with. Also make sure you sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. You need to make new friends so limit the number of weekends where you catch up with family and existing friends. Join as many new pursuits as you can such as a health or sports club – exercise will give you energy and strength. These clubs are usually full of single people and many clubs organize social activities as well; an evening class during the week (once you’ve gained a bit more energy) where you can be other like-minded people; an amateur dramatics society where joining in with others to produce a single goal immediately creates new friendships; a singles social events and holiday company such as Dinner Dates where you can book events on a  Saturday or Sunday night and meet large numbers of other single people. Make as many new friends as you can and they in turn will introduce you to their friends.