What scares you about getting older?

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.

Recorded Róisín Murphy said elsewhere, not written here
The fact that I smoke.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 61 →
Henry Marsh Neurosurgeon and writer
I was looking at ageing in action, in black-and-white MRI pixels, death and dissolution foretold, and already partly achieved. My 70-year-old brain was shrunken and withered, a worn and sad version of what it once must have been. There were also ominous white spots in the white matter, signs of ischaemic damage, small-vessel disease, known in the trade as white matter hyperintensities – there are various names for them. They looked like some evil pox. Not to put too fine a point on it, my brain is starting to rot. I am starting to rot. It is the writing on the wall, a deadline.
Recorded The Guardian, 13 August 2022 source ↗
I am genuinely buzzed about it! I think we just keep getting better, smarter, wiser, truer, happier.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 March 2025 source ↗

More from Róisín Murphy

View profile →
Question Which moment embarrassed you most? Failure & regret
I recently had a dramatic fall on stage in Hungary. It was a massive stage – I was miles away from the audience – and I didn’t expect there to be two monitors in the middle of it. I went completely arse over tit and landed on my chin. First, I felt shock, pain, embarrassment, and then I felt lucky that I didn’t break any teeth or bite through my tongue. I asked for an ice pack for my chin, got up and finished the set.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2023 source ↗

More on time & hindsight

Also answered this · A–Z

Alex Lawther, Ali Abbasi, Ally McCoist, Andrew Ridgeley, Ben Okri, Ciarán Hinds

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer