No matter who you are, you have a guilty pleasure. Everyone in the world has something they like that they’re not particularly proud of or don’t want people to know. You might think you’re wrong and weird for liking these things.
I know, for instance, my biggest guilty pleasure is boy bands. If you go through my music playlist, you’ll find a plethora of *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and One Direction songs. I’m even listening to “Night Changes” by One Direction as I write this column.
I can also tell you that I feel a little weird about it, especially because I live in a fraternity house, where testosterone flows like water through the Nile River.
Does that make me weird for liking that music? Of course not! Well, ok, maybe that one is a little weird.
But overall, guilty pleasures are a great thing. You shouldn’t have to rationalize every single thing you like. Sometimes you like things just because you like them; you can’t pin an explanation to it.
From my experience, it seems that people hate to admit their guilty pleasures because they don’t want to be judged and made fun of. I know that if I told some of my old friends that I liked Backstreet Boys that I’d pretty much be shunned. That’s not healthy.
You should be able to embrace your guilty pleasures and enjoy them as much as you want. No one should have to hide what he or she likes just for acceptance; that’s ridiculous. If you want to watch “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” then so be it! I personally don’t know why anyone would want to spend any time watching what those annoying women do, but if that’s what you like to do then don’t let anyone, especially not me, stop you.
If you like taking selfies every day and putting them on Instagram, then keep throwing your filtered face out there. So what if someone calls you basic? I’d rather be called basic than be forced to bottle in my true self.
Everyone, please embrace your guilty pleasures, especially now that we’re in college where we are likely in the most socially accepting phases of our lives. I promise you’ll feel more whole when you accept that your guilty pleasures are really just innocent.
As One Direction would say, you don’t know your (guilty pleasures) make you beautiful.
