The question
What lesson has mattered most in your life?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
We’re not here for long so don’t be wreaking havoc along the way.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 July 2025 source ↗
Life’s too short to take offence.
One’s created sense of self is not who you are. The present moment is all we have.
It's family, and it's faith, and it's friends. I would tell them that. Don't forget that. In your brilliance, don't turn your back on your friends. Don't think you're entitled to something because you're smarter than the next guy.
Whenever things seem absolutely terrible, to see that you’re alive and that’s all that matters.
Overwhelming, discombobulating, irrational and unreasonable.
An inability to get myself to bed at a reasonable hour.
Not being able to fend for myself and being a burden to others.
Hopeful, egalitarian, overweight.
As not being a total bollix.
Ulysses by James Joyce, but I might make a start next week – or the week after that …
Richard Coles, Sarah Perry, John Simm, Erin O'Connor, Hugh Skinner, Clare Bailey Mosley
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