Was it always this hard?

I honestly like the challenge I just wish that it was a little easier to gain relationships with other sims. Keeping your social up is hard when you play a single sim and then getting that sim to make friends, keep their motives up, work, and still have time to do something fun is exhausting. I finally was able to get one friend and he moved in, and now I have two sims that need friends for their careers. I don't remember how I did this when I was little especially when I didn't even know mods existed then. I use to play for hours non-stop too. I also save a lot because at any moment something could happen.