Sartre says “Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being.”

There truly are no limits to what you can do and who you can be and this is best recognised

by embracing ‘nothingness’. Sartre claims that the being-for-itself only knows what

it is by acknowledging what it is not: it is not a being-in-itself. It is not the presence

of certain characteristics, but precisely the absence of a fixed essence that defines the

being-for-itself. It is a lack. A nothingness. As soon as the being-for-itself recognises itself

as a ‘nothingness’, it can finally start to see and appreciate itself as a blank canvas.

This means letting go of thinking of yourself in terms of what you are and do,

but rather in terms of what you are not and are not doing - for it is those things that

you can become and start doing in the future. People usually do not look at themselves from

this perspective. As soon as they have the capacity to think about themselves,

they like to cling to what they consider to be constants or essences instead of looking

at their potential. Someone who works as a waiter, for example, can see themselves only

as a waiter. The tendency to define oneself and focus on what you are is ever-present.

Instead, it is important to recognize your lack. By recognizing everything you are not,

you are also recognizing everything you could be. That what is nothing

can become something. Instead of seeing yourself as a waiter,

see yourself as a human being who is not a waiter, or teacher, father, clown,

nuclear physicist, or anything. But you can act to reach each of those professions or roles.

Instead of defining yourself by a trait, such as nice, smart, addict,

etc, see yourself for what you are: a human being capable of exhibiting all

traits. Sartre says your actions define who you are but in order to act freely,

you have to see yourself as being full of emptiness and thus potential first.

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