Stop Smoking Pages

Did you manage to give up smoking once, but then lapse back into it again, due to stress, change, or whatever? Then after this did you find it hard to get back on the straight and narrow? Did having given up once, and then gone back to smoking, put you off from any renewed efforts of trying to quit? If so, take heart from the experiences of Scottish actor Ewan McGregor of Trainspotting and Star Wars fame. He has given up smoking - twice. The first time was prior to his work on Star Wars, when he told George Lucas that he would quit. At the time Ewan was proud to announce that he had given up smoking, saying: “If you really want to stop, you just stop. It’s not as hard as they say it is.”

Unfortunately, he started smoking again during his mammoth round-the-world motorcycle trip, which started in April 2004. This may have been partly due to stress, as Ewan and his motorcycling pal Charley Boorman almost stopped the adventure halfway through because they were missing their families so much.

Ewan found it very difficult to ditch the cigarettes once he had got started again. This may be partly due to the fact that his previous attempt to pack in had ultimately turned out to be unsuccessful.

Then in 2006 Ewan finally decided to seek help from a hypnotist, and as far as we know, this has been successful, and Ewan has not lapsed again.

So even if you have nearly succeeded once in giving up, but then lapsed, don’t let this put you off. Just think of all the benefit you have got from giving up the cigarettes for those few weeks, months or even years. If you did it before, you can do it again. Take a tip from Ewan McGregor, and don’t give up giving up.

Filed under: Smoking and celebrities, Relapses