Skip to main content

Guilty Pleasures: Why Do We Have to Feel Guilty?



Today I wanted to talk about guilty pleasures, as this is a topic that every now and then gets me up on that high horse that I have to admit always leaves me a little butt sore afterwards.

It seems like when people refer to a "guilty pleasure," it always seems to refer to a reality tv show. At least, that's been my experience. People ask, what's your guilty pleasure? Basically, what is the thing that is not socially accepted but that brings you happiness?

Guilt.

Pleasure.

Two very competing words.

If watching, reading, or doing something is bringing joy into your life, why is it that society demands that you simultaneously feel bad about it? This is something that simply does not make sense to me. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it.

No, I am ecstatically debilitated by this. Alright, fine. I had to use the thesaurus for that joke. Competing words, get it?

Sure, some subjects don't bring a lot of value to your life, but that does not automatically mean that you should feel guilty about them. For example, I have learned many a fact from watching the Kardashians. I've learned about fashion designers and it has also given me a glimpse into the life of the rich and famous. Who's to say these can't induce creative ideas that I can incorporate into my writing?

If sipping a glass of wine and watching extravagant dates on The Bachelorette every week is the mental escape I need to recharge, then so be it.

Now, Honey Boo Boo, that is another story. But if watching it brings you joy then I certainly don't have the right to take that from you.

Frankly, the whole thing brings me back to high school. If you're weren't the "cool" one and didn't wear a certain type of clothing and didn't drive a certain kind of car, some people didn't want to associate with you. Kids would learn to hide the things that they enjoyed because they weren't socially accepted. Think back to that time and all the things that you may have wanted to do, or may have wanted to talk about to your friends that you didn't for this reason?

I was a musical theater nerd. I wanted to perform more than anything, but fear of judgment held me back. The whispers behind the backs of fellow thespians held me back from a passion that would have brought me pure joy.

Now that I am adult, I may be able to cope better with casual words of ridicule, tossed around without much regard for the feelings of others. But my experience has made me much more aware of the activities that just simply...

 ...make me feel good.

And by golly, there is enough in this world trying to make us feel terrible. I'm going to hold on to any and every opportunity to bring a little light to my day. And there is nothing to feel guilty about that.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 2020 #AuthorToolboxBlogHop: My (Condensed) Preptober Essentials for NaNoWriMo

 Hallelujah! Fall is finally,  finally here and after months of miserable summer heat, my writer heart is singing praises for this beautiful October weather. I don't know about you, but my creativity always goes into hibernation in the summer and reawakens in the fall. Perhaps it's my minds way of preparing for what I like to think of as the writer's version of a marathon. Yes, that's right. I'm talking about  NaNoWriMo . If you've never heard of National Novel Writing Month, I'll give you the gist. Every November, participants undertake a complete rough draft of a brand new novel. In order to "win," your manuscript must reach 50,000 words. And while the prize consists mostly of bragging rights and a general feeling of achievement, Scrivener does offer a 50% discount to verified winners.  While this year will be only my second to participate, I resolved after last years win to commit every year going forward. For me, NaNoWriMo is a perfect excuse t...
6 comments
Read more

#AuthorToolBoxBlogHop - 20 Writing Exercises to Get Unstuck

From time to time, it's inevitable that in between those days of ever-flowing creative genius, writers are bound to hit roadblocks. Whether big or small, tiny bits of dialogue, or entire scenes and chapters, sometimes it can feel like an impossible task to carry on. We're just stuck. And while we will eventually work through it, I've discovered through my bouts of feeling stagnant, that there are often ways to accelerate our creative process. For this month's Author Toolbox Blog Hop topic, I'm compiling a list of 20 creative writing exercises to get unstuck. 1. Try another scene and come back later. A number of things could be affecting your ability to write a certain scene, including your emotional state, health, sleep, etc. Sometimes the answer is to simply take a break and return when you're in the right frame of mind. 2. Take out a sheet of paper and write by hand. Writing by hand is known to engage the entire brain, which is why journaling is so of...
15 comments
Read more

July #AuthorToolBoxBlogHop: Writing My First Spec Script for Television

Happy blog hop day everyone and thank you so much for stopping by mine. By the time you're reading this, we will be well into the month of July and I will have officially begun my Camp NaNoWriMo project. I'm writing this post at the end of June while preparing my plan of attack over the next 31 days in which I plan to write my first ever spec script for television. If you're not familiar with Camp NaNoWriMo, you can check out this blog post where I go into more detail. In essence, it's a month where writers worldwide dedicate themselves to a particular project of their choosing. But personally, I like to think of it as a giant pause button. NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo have become my sole excuse to put down my novel with its seemingly endless revisions and pause for a month to focus on something new. Somehow doing so under the established framework of NaNoWriMo is easier for me than simply picking a random month of my own choosing, which I know I would never do if...
14 comments
Read more