Losing my memory and not being able to work.
What scares you about getting older?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
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.
A receding hairline.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
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Mario Molina
Atmospheric chemist; Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1995
Certainly not. As a young child, I remember just dreaming about the Nobel Prize, but that was just a dream. It’s not something I would have ever thought was possible for me.
Seeing my kids getting older scares me.
Possible dementia.
More from Alex Lawther
View profile →I would try and get to being comfortable with myself quicker.
Not getting to the point.
I spent about five years living in Paris thinking I would become Kristin Scott Thomas, and it didn’t happen.
My failed driving test a few months ago. I got three majors and by the end of it the examiner couldn’t wait to get out of the car.
You can only do one thing at a time.
Ponderous, over thinking.
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
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