I needed to stop smoking and find healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with the anxieties of financial stress during the pandemic. I couldn’t see a clinician in person but was able to use my employer-provided health benefits to have virtual visits with Mary Nordhues, RN health coach, at Wellnet. As my health coach, she had her work cut out for her mentoring me through only Zoom meetings.
I had attempted to quit smoking for years, but couldn’t get past the physical withdrawals and stress of failure. Mary managed to stay positive and even-keeled through the entire process and never used guilt, tough love, or strong-handed tactics. She just kept hacking away at my unhealthy coping mechanisms for handling stress and encouraged me throughout the entire tobacco cessation process. For that, I am eternally grateful.
Miraculously, I stopped smoking before the end of my 16 weeks and found resourceful ways to deal with financial drama! Mary’s positivity eventually rubbed off on me and I relearned healthy coping skills to handle life’s stressors. Letting stress cause me anxiety not only affected my mental health and decision-making abilities but also slowly whittled away at my physical well-being as well.
My health is much better, and the change absolutely improved my life at home and work. I’m quite happy I gave Mary’s approach a chance.
