The question
What thought won't let you sleep?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Did I behave in the right way?
The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗
The realisation that I am not the best version of myself.
Those mad thoughts. Did you turn off the air fryer? Have I booked my plane for tomorrow?
Snoring – and it's not me.
Thinking I’ve upset somebody.
I bumped into an old schoolteacher and her even more ancient and deaf sister, and she shouted to her, “Remember Esther? Now she writes books … ABOUT HERSELF.”
Life’s too short to take offence.
My parents died within four days of each other. I was engulfed as I ran from one bedside to another.
Sorry is such an underrated word – I use it liberally.
An inability to see the other side.
Not joining the circus.
Paula Wilcox, Gavin Rossdale, Harriet Walter, Bruce Dickinson, James Bay, Mo Gilligan
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