Unmasking bad faith

Sartre held that we are « condemned to be free »: at every moment our choices are our own, even when we pretend otherwise. That flight he called bad faith, the lie by which we treat ourselves as a thing in order to decline our share. This exercise teaches you to spot those evasions and to reclaim your decisions as your own, rather than sheltering behind « I had no choice ».

1. Through the day, note the phrases by which you decline a choice: « I had no choice », « that's just how I am », « it's stronger than me », « they made me ».
2. Take one and look it in the eye: behind the phrase, what did you actually choose, even if only to decide nothing or to let things happen?
3. Name what the phrase spared you: an effort, a conflict, the weight of owning what came next.
4. Separate what was up to you from what the situation truly imposed: owning your freedom is not claiming what you did not control.
5. Recast the decision in the first person, as your act, « I chose to… », and stand by its consequences.

a few minutes each evening, or in the moment as soon as the phrase slips out

Owning your freedom is not taking on everything or blaming yourself endlessly: one always chooses within a situation one did not choose. The aim is to acknowledge your share, what Sartre calls authenticity, not to crush yourself with it or deny real constraints.