What’s Your Guilty Pleasure?
Go ahead, indulge a little . . . I said, a little
You’ve got yours, and I’ve got mine.
From trashy TV and junk food to impulse shopping and reading for fun, the guilty pleasure doesn’t have to carry as much guilt as we once thought. Perhaps it’s time to smother the guilty pleasure in a frosting of as you wish.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Sami Schalk an assistant professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, “A guilty pleasure is something that we enjoy, but we know we’re either not supposed to like, or that liking it says something negative about us.”
The guilt surrounding pleasure is a crazy connection. The idea that we can’t simply enjoy an activity — that is harming no one! — without struggling with our feelings of shame and guilt, I mean, where did that come from?
According to Dr. Schalk, we see pleasure as “sinful and bad and self-indulgent.” As a society, we tend to struggle with the idea of perfectionism and all that entails, such as not wasting time and being the best version of ourselves. For most of us being the best version of ourselves doesn’t include creeping people on Facebook or drinking milk out of the carton.
But then our guilty pleasures surface, and we’re suddenly fearful about what those guilty pleasures say about us and how they make us look to other people. But is indulging really that awful? Is taking a mental break and enjoying something that is hurting no one so bad?
Maybe . . . maybe not.
Trashy TV
Whether it’s binging the latest Netflix series or vegging on The Princess Bride for the 43rd time, sometimes we need to disconnect our minds from reality. When we tell ourselves, as you wish, and partake in binge-watching, it makes us feel good because our brains produce dopamine when we engage in enjoyable activities. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter found naturally in the body, and deficiencies may affect your mood, sleep, memory, or concentration.
But watch out, don’t take as you wish too far. Watching episode upon episode of a show may feel good while you’re doing it, but the dopamine high has to fall at some point. Don’t be alarmed if, after a weekend of binge-watching, you feel exhausted and depressed from hours of a straight-on dopamine high that has finally come down.
If there’s a lesson here, it’s to maximize the pleasure principle by embracing moderation. This will allow enjoyment without the sting of guilt.
Junk Food and Impulse Shopping
Last weekend, a friend confessed to me that she and her hubby spent most of last summer eating popcorn and ice cream for dinner every night during the COVID lockdown. I was happy that she seemed to have no guilt surrounding the activity. Her internal as you wish self seemed pleased as well. Obviously, indulging in comfort food on the daily during a pandemic didn’t last forever for this couple. Once they noticed the extra pounds on the bathroom scale, they went back to lean meat and salads.
Did you know that the same neural pathways that dopamine rides when we binge-watch television or eat junk food are the same pathways that heroin and sex use? Our brains code pleasurable experiences the same way, regardless of the experience. That’s why your body can get addicted to any activity that consistently produces dopamine, like eating popcorn and ice cream for dinner every night.
Like junk food, shopping can provide instant gratification (i.e., instant dopamine surges), even if it’s only clicking buttons online instead of touching, trying, and swiping inside a store. Overwhelmed with feelings of shopping happiness, we ride the dopamine wave click after online click. But this is one of those guilty pleasures that can carry huge consequences if you’re not careful.
Again, measuring out just the right amount of as you wish is the key to finding the balance between the perfect you and the full-of-pleasure you.
Low-quality Escapes
What about that cheesy book you just can’t put down? Or the Facebook scrolling and Twitter flipping you can’t seem to stop? The daily games you play on your phone or sleeping in on the weekends? Just beyond the societal construct of “what would my friends think?” is the question, does it matter?
Pleasure is a natural part of life and, for some of us, we may have to battle the oppressive idea that we don’t deserve time to enjoy ourselves. But we do!! Be honest with yourself — if it’s not hurting anyone and you’re not over-indulging, why not enjoy the moment? Why not enjoy your life even if it is something the world tags as a time-waster or an embarrassment.
Granted, not all guilty pleasures are created equal, and there are consequences to impulse shopping and overindulging in junk food. Truth is, every behavior has a consequence . . . it’s our job to take charge of our pleasure centers, schedule a bit of pleasure time around the responsibilities and find the balance that works for you.
However you choose to find your balance, it’s time we all drop the guilty part and just start enjoying life because pleasure is a part of life. Go ahead, eat dessert before dinner (once in a while), and dance like no one’s watching (every day if you must)!
You deserve it.
As you wish . . .
If you found this article interesting, I accept hugs in the form of
— Generous highlighting and applause
— Copious comments spilling with gratitude and deep-thoughts
— Scads of followers Julie Nyhus MSN, FNP-BC
— Positive thoughts directed my way
In peace and light,
Joolz
