Worrying at things.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
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.
Lack of confidence masquerading as perfectionism.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →Impulsivity. We end up in strange places, like right now – I am in the Middle East.
Courtney Pine
British jazz musician
I am not studious enough. I get easily distracted.
I can go for weeks without opening the mail. I can look at a letter that has just dropped through the letterbox, wonder what it is and then just shred it.
More from Nikki Amuka-Bird
View profile →I’m quite scared of bats. I’m just seeing rats with wings – no, thanks.
Not being flexible enough to dance freely.
Anyone whose party I said I’d go to and didn’t turn up. I can get quite socially anxious at times.
Like everything is in high definition, and life is on your side.
Being an actor is inherently embarrassing. You have to embrace it.
In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Julie Andrews, Pauline McLynn, Joyce Carol Oates, Father John Misty, Brandi Carlile, Paul McKenna
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