I get a lot of abuse online because of my opposition to the assault on Gaza. The abuse is horrific, but I’ve learned to ignore it. The integrity of how you live your life is more important than what strangers think.
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which teacher, parent, coach or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them?
Relationships
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
"You can't write."
Rosanna Greenstreet, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2009 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 128 →“You’ll never, ever work.” When you are young and full of hopes and dreams it’s devastating. I am just grateful that I thought: “Well, I’m going to try.”
Chaka Khan
American singer
A friend said, “If you remembered everything you did, you’d kill yourself.” He’s sort of crazy, but he’s probably right.
“Didn’t you used to be Graydon Carter?”
More from Alain de Botton
View profile →failure. I dream of chapters I haven't written and things that I forgot to say in books I wrote three or seven years ago.
The summer just after finishing How Proust Can Change Your Life.
I came from a family where books were highly valued, and that set me on the path of reading. Also, my family got out there and did stuff, and so I grew up feeling that you could change things and get things done if you worked hard.
Machismo.
I'd take a course in bread-making and open a small bakery.
interior design. I would love to design your house for you. At night, I sketch designs for King's Cross, new versions of the British Library, and new versions of my kitchen.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 373 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 210 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 209 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 126 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 81 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 41 answers
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- All failure & regret questions
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