identity
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing.
Recorded Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, The White House (Obama administration archive), 19 May 2013 source ↗
Being giving to the detriment of myself.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 August 2023 source ↗
Vic, my wife, has over the years reduced my impatience, but anybody who has been in a traffic jam with me will know that she hasn’t completed the task yet.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2023 source ↗
I’m quite stubborn.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 August 2023 source ↗
Sitting on the fence – I will do anything to avoid confrontation.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2023 source ↗
Comparing myself to other people.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2023 source ↗
My problem with clothes. I’ve got an issue, haven’t I? I’m not a fella in a band who can turn up in his T-shirt and jeans. I’ve got the whole drama of what I’m going to wear: the hair, the makeup. All that preening and pruning that adds to the stress. I have begun to hate that perfectionist in me.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2023 source ↗
Lack of confidence in speaking to the opposite sex.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 September 2023 source ↗
At this time in my life, I quite like myself but, for a large portion of my life, I deplored being shy.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 October 2023 source ↗
Believing in, even admiring, people who refuse to believe in me, and not believing people who do.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
Procrastination.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗
I get distracted by anything and everything, so all my projects finish just before the deadline. Sometimes, it’s a bit too tight.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 November 2023 source ↗
Oversensitivity.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2023 source ↗
I can be a people-pleaser, to the detriment of my own needs sometimes.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗
Appearing angry when I’m not angry.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 December 2023 source ↗
I try too hard not to get things wrong.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗
My health anxiety. I am a bit of a hypochondriac. I hate that about myself and I’ve worked extensively in therapy on changing it.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 January 2024 source ↗
I wish I could be more patient. I always want things to get done or happen now.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 February 2024 source ↗
My need to be liked.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 February 2024 source ↗
Not finishing things.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 February 2024 source ↗
Nobody has answered this one yet.