My fiance and I are students at a major university. I am fully on scholarship while he is on a partial scholarship. Thus far he has used his business (which thus far has profitable and rewarding for him) that he runs from home to provide his supplimental income without incident. He came to the university a year before I did, and spent all this time doing school work and building the business. This translated into long nights and four hours of sleep, but that was his life and he accepted it. When I moved up to enter the university, things changed. He finally had a reason to slow down, and while he keep the business running, he slowed things down tremendously.

This past year at university has been an eye opening one. We have created a quasi-normal life here that keeps us happy and fulfilled. We finally got his parents blessing for our (all be it distant) marriage and the classes I have been taking to understand his parents' native language has helped us out a lot. With this good news comes some bad though. My father, who has a illness that will prove fatal, went from living in a state of health with only minimal limitations to being hospitalized at least once month. My parents declared banckrupcy. His father injured his back (a very bad thing in his line of work). Add this to the stress of his siblings getting older (one enters college next year, one middle school, and one elementary school) and trying to provide for thier futures, it can really weigh on a person.

So he has decided to rev the business into high gear again. While I support his decision, it is having a major effect on him. He is tired all the time, his eyes are bloodshot from staring at the computer, and he is pushing his school work to the last minute. He says the only way he could slow down was if he took on a partner, but the only two people he trusts enough can't participate for one reason or another. I hate to see him so worn down, so I try to redouble my efforts to make his life easier (since I don't work, I spend most of my time after studying for helping him or reading). He lives only a few doors down from me so it is easy to pop over and make his meals, or rub his feet. I can still see the strain in his face though. Besides what I am already doing and helping him with his business whenever I can (I can do the technical side of what he does, just at about 1/20 the pace), I don't know what else I can do. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to make his life easier or less stressful? His one distraction from school and work is sports, which we spend about a half hour a day doing, but he won't allow himself a longer escape than that. Do any of you experienced with work stress have any ideas (since he works at home its not like he can try to 'leave work at the office')?