Sather

Life's stress causes us to find relief in many ways. Smoking and other habits, some addictions are not uncommon methods of dealing or coping with life and and issues. When your partner finally takes the step to quit smoking it will either be outright "cold turkey" quiitting without any medications or supplements or it could be any number of methods.

My partner could not use many of the supplementary patches or gums because of other medical issues which make these methods incompatible. He chose to take a medication called "Chantix." He's been smoking for 40 years and previously attempted quitting with one hypnosis session and lasted smoke-free for four days. Too many people around him at the time of the stop-smoking four day attempt could not tolerate his moods and they told him to start smoking again because he was impossible to deal with.

Fortunately for him, and I'm not sure yet if I'm fortunate, he's got a different partner than before and I am going to keep up my side of the bargain. I am not going to give in and recommend that he smoke no matter what.

It's been 13 days since he's had a cigarette. These 13 days have been the most challenging 13 days I've experienced in the last decade. At first with Chantix, he smoked and took the medication. After a week of cutting down and the urge to smoke lessening, he stopped the cigarettes completely.

He is sleeping a lot more. He's yelling , irritable, and nasty during all of his waking hours. I basically told him that I would not tolerate his nastiness. I refuse to allow him to speak to me in such a horrible manner. In the back of my mind I feel he wants to be so ugly with me that I will break down and tell him to smoke. It's not going to happen.

I am seeing some positive signs, his skin looks better to me already. He's sleeping more and more peacefully. He used to wake up in the middle of the night and choke on phlegm and cough more. That's gone. It did scare us when he woke up in the middle of the night feeling like something was sitting on his chest and he was worried that maybe it was a heart attack . That feeling on his chest went away.

What have I done to survive? I have tried some stress relief tactics for myself and for him. First, running away to a resort or spa sounded like the perfect option, but I didn't want to take the days off of work. Instead, I booked a one-night stay at a resort with a big sunken bathtub and bought aromatherapy bath soak and made him soak in the huge tub to relax. Then, I made him float in a pool called a lazy river in which you get on an inner-tube and the water current pushes you without effort around the pool. It's cool and you float and just forget about your problems. He yelled about my booking the resort and finally thanked me after he soaked and floated.

In fact, I liked those results so much I've booked the resort stay again for another night next week.Vacations, even one-night, two-day get aways help stress . You need some fun. We need to get out of our habits and do something differently.

Next, I went for a pedicure and a massage. If we wants to feel mean, at least I'm going to have pretty toes, a well-exercised body, and less tension in the muscles of my back and neck. I'll keep you posted.

Lori Wilk, MBA, is a Las Vegas Strip Performer, not a stripper. She makes daily humourous vacation ownership presentations on the Las Vegas Strip. She's is an author of business and self-help books and host of the internet talk show "Successipes" at http://www.success-talk.com . Lori looks forward to meeting many of you soon at Successipes2008 in Las Vegas. If you enjoyed this article go to http://www.loriwilkarticles.com