The question
What worries you about getting older?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A newer fixed question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Not being there for my daughter.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2026 source ↗
Not being flexible enough to dance freely.
I don’t want to get into an early death spiral, when you’re scaling down your life unnecessarily because you’ve already been there or done that. I never want to stop adventuring.
Losing my mind.
So far, getting older has made almost everything better.
On a train journey to Arcadia many years ago while making a TV documentary.
Looking after the flowerbed on my windowsill.
We don’t die. We change realms. Life is eternal. Living is not. Live while you are alive.
Composer, pirate, scientist, philosopher.
“You don’t stand a chance of succeeding as a writer in this country. The demographics are against you.” They were wrong. The only demographic that counts is the human heart.
Worrying at things.
Diana Athill, David Ajala, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Alex Lawther, Ciarán Hinds, Esther Rantzen
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