According to Being and Nothingness, as well as the kind of anguish you get from the many possible things you might do, there is also anguish in the face of the past.
For example you might make a resolution that you are going to do x (not eat too much chocolate, make 1000 quilt blocks in a year, read a philosophical tome, substitute resolution of your choice). However, because we are separated from our pasts by nothingness, we are not the same person we were when we made the resolution and the motives we had in making it may not be with us in the moment we are in now.
We feel anguish because we can access the resolution in our consciousness as reflection and know that it was what we intended to do, yet still feel unable to stick to it. Essentially if we are to stick to our resolutions we have to remake them in every moment.
A fitting topic for new year’s eve if ever there was one. Hope all your new years resolutions go well.
Here the quilt blocks I made yesterday. I don’t know how many I will get a chance to make today as I am off working on my third goal for the year ahead, which is to buy my first house. I have two to look at this morning.