(Guilty?) Pleasures

I have a beef with guilty pleasures: why should we feel ashamed of doing something we enjoy?

Now there's two parts to this, 1) other people make fun of your activity 2) you shame yourself for indulging in this activity.

The first one's a little easier to tackle. Let's say I like to make cosplay costumes while watching CW reruns. If someone is spending their time making me feel ashamed of my hobbies, they can get a life. Or maybe they're just jealous that their hobbies are way less interesting than mine. Pretty standard "you do you, I'll do me" stuff.

The second point is a lot less straightforward. My "guilty pleasure" of eating the whole pint of ice cream definitely stems more from a place of societal/parental/self shaming of eating too much, not being skinny enough, and losing control. This takes a lot more work mentally to undo the negative self-talk, societal pressures, and all those things we know too much about. Same with watching a lot of TV -- It's not lazy, bad, or something to change. If I like it and it's not getting in the way of whatever my other goals are, then I'll let it lie and soak in the indulgence.

I'm not excusing pleasures that you probably should feel guilty for, ie. hooking up with your friend's S.O. or shoplifting from an indie bookstore, but that rarely seems to be the context that this is used in. So, if you enjoy something, don't feel ashamed. Enjoy it with pride. I better be getting back to my Ben & Jerry's and watching Veronica Mars.