In a lecture he gave just after the war, ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’, Sartre described human life as full of anguish. The anguish comes from understanding that we can't make any excuses but are responsible for everything we do. But the anguish is worse because, according to Sartre, whatever I do with my life is a kind of template for what anyone else should do with their life. If I decide to marry, I'm suggesting that everyone should marry; if I decide to be lazy, that's what everyone should do in my vision of human existence. Through the choices I make in my life I paint a picture of what
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