I admittedly have a lot of anxiety, for which I’m diagnosed and see a psychiatrist and therapist for. But, I thought that I’d get some ideas from the community too.

My (26F) boyfriend (52M) has been very busy with his 60-hour work week job, gutting and renovating his house by himself with one other guy, and has his kids every other week. We see each other maybe 3 days out of the week since we don’t live together.

I find that while he’s good with prioritizing me so that we have our quality time and physical affection, and remembers what I say a lot of the time in terms of small details, when he’s busy, he doesn’t put in the extra effort to plan dates outside of the house despite me asking, doesn’t read all my texts, or forgets to ask me how he can be there for me if I need help, etc.

I have approached him on it, given him specific ideas, and told him what I need, and he’ll be agreeable but he seems to be very occupied with what’s going on in his life.

How can I manage those expectations and do I need to dial it back and expect there to be less effort when he’s this busy - or how can I help our relationship at this time?