@aliabbasi
builder
Working on new ideas and driving
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
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.
Perimenopausal anxiety, the terrible feeling of impending doom, something awful happening to my children, writing deadlines. Apart from that, I’m quite chilled.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 198 →
Melanie Chisholm
British pop singer
My little girl. I often get visits just for a cuddle.
Ethan Hawke
Actor, director and novelist
Worrying about my kids.
Ronnie Wood
English rock musician
My metabolism. Ever since I was a little kid, I was always up halfway through the night.
More from Dawn O'Porter
View profile →Not winning Celebrity MasterChef. I am still gutted, despite many months of pretending to be fine with it.
My Auntie Jane. She took me in, aged 10, and, after my mother died, healed my broken heart by filling our dining room with food and people. Still cooking at the grand old age of 89. My icon.
A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.
More on daily life
- What single thing would improve the quality of your life? 208 answers
- What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love? 37 answers
- When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? 26 answers
- In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? 23 answers
- In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life? 21 answers
- What does the first sixty minutes of your day look like? 21 answers
Also answered this
Robert Carlyle, Niamh Cusack, Olivia Williams, Anna Paquin, Courteney Cox, Paapa Essiedu
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All daily life questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject