Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About Guilty Pleasures

I wrote this blog post before Coronavirus turned our lives upside down. I thought about writing something Coronavirus related, but the more I thought about it, the more guilty pleasures and getting in touch with a little joy seemed weirdly applicable to our new normal. Despite the obviously tragic side of the pandemic, I’ve loved watching all the creativity blossoming online and although we’re physically more distant than ever. It’s been beautiful to watch how people connect. And the thing I’ve noticed is that the way people connect is often through being a little goofy, a little eccentric, showing their hobbies, their bad dance moves. In other words, we’ve become a whole lot more human. So without further ado…

Photo Credit: AI R via Flickr Creative Commons

Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About Guilty Pleasures

Your inner-artist is a kid. And kids like bling. They like zany stuff, sticky stuff, fluffy unicorns, and swamp green robots. But when we become adults we’ve got chores and jobs and all that good stuff. We get serious. No more fart jokes! So you suppress this kid in you.

But the thing about suppression is whatever you’re suppressing tends to come out stronger only in unhealthy ways. You might drink too much on Friday night, or scroll through social media too much, or binge watch Netflix. Those aren’t guilty pleasures, they’re just killing time.

A guilty pleasure is that cinnamon roll that makes you think of summer afternoons in the third grade, or wearing a hot pink scarf when you normally throw on jeans and whatever shirt happens to be clean. You might still binge watch Netflix or comfort eat ice cream, but like everything else it’s a process. But you might just find over time that innocent side of you has a bit more say so in your life.

There’s something so precious about that. It can feel geeky, awkward, embarrassing, or whatever. But honestly, these are your inner-artistic roots. Your inner-artist might like to buy herself rainbow socks or break out the Crayola crayons. Whatever it is, I can guarantee you that if it’s a real guilty pleasure joy will bubble up inside you, and whatever stereotypes you may have inherited about artists — that they’re mysanthropes perhaps? — the real source of all creativity is joy.

What are your guilty pleasures?