Having regrets.
What scares you about getting older?
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A newer fixed question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Losing my eyesight – I live for the view, and the sunset and the sunrise.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 January 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 61 →Not being able to fend for myself and being a burden to others.
Diana Athill
Editor and memoirist
I saw them recently on their morning walk, and they caused me a pang. I have always wanted a pug and now I can't have one, because buying a puppy when you are too old to take it for walks is unfair. There are dog-walkers, of course; but the best part of owning a dog is walking with it, enjoying its delight when it detects the signs that a walk is imminent, and its glee when its lead is unsnapped and it can bound off over the grass, casting cheerful looks back at you from time to time to make sure that you are still in touch.
Younger people being amazed that I know what song they’re listening to.
More from Helen Skelton
View profile →To Gorka Márquez, who was my Strictly partner, for not winning the glitterball in 2022.
Getting to the end and thinking that I haven’t laughed enough.
More sleep – my children do not sleep.
As someone who made you think that anything’s possible. I did three marathons in a day once but walking the high-wire at Battersea Park station was the challenge I loved most because I had to master a skill.
Jealousy. It’s the thief of joy.
There’s a house near me that I adore and it came up for sale, and I got to the point of nearly buying it and then pulled out because I’m trying to be sensible.
More on time & hindsight
- When were you happiest? 577 answers
- What is the most important lesson life has taught you? 137 answers
- What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore? 77 answers
- What is the best advice you have ever received? 28 answers
- If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say and why? 23 answers
- What is something you were told by a parent, teacher, or mentor that you still repeat to yourself? 22 answers
Also answered this
Alex Lawther, Henry Marsh, Jon Snow, Mark Radcliffe, Shobna Gulati, Imogen Poots
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All time & hindsight questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject