If you could edit your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Philip Gould said elsewhere, not written here
When I thought maybe I've just got a few weeks, I thought God this is what they mean by the reckoning. I've got to sort all this stuff out in days. Is it possible to sort out all those things in your past that you'd prefer not to have done? ... But actually by going through the process we've gone through, I think we have. And it's a real blessing to have this time do that.

Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian, interview at Gould's home in London, 20 September 2011 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 203 →
Eve Ensler American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist
I would have honoured my body, I would have lived inside it, cherished it and protected it.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗
Mandy Patinkin American actor and singer
I would have been a better listener. I would have pursued more friendships instead of focusing so much on work and myself. I’m doing all that now, but I’m running out of time.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2019 source ↗
Suzanne Vega American singer-songwriter
I would have tried to meet Lou Reed backstage. I went to see him for years, and never tried to meet him. Eventually we met at award shows and did become friends.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2017 source ↗

More from Philip Gould

View profile →

More on failure & regret

Also answered this · A–Z

Anita Rani, Bill Clinton, Chris Bryant, Desmond Tutu, Edwina Currie, Emma Barnett

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer