Guilty Pleasures

I’ve been thinking a lot about guilty pleasures the last few days. No, not the really deep, dark “secret pleasures” of the x-rated variety. Frankly, that’s a topic that I’d rather not consider, let alone discuss, on my blog. What people do in the privacy of their own homes isn’t of interest to me. I don’t want to hear about anyone’s secret fantasies or favorite bedroom activities. Oddly, though, people are always confiding things like that to me and I have no idea why. But, I digress.

Instead, I’m talking about those, “Gee, I’d be so embarrassed if anyone knew I listened to this musician or watched that TV show”-type of guilty pleasures. My ruminations were prompted by some new songs Jen and I bought and downloaded the other evening. Several of the songs were ones I selected by an artist I swore I would never own (and who shall remain unnamed). Glancing through our music collection, Jen started teasing me about the playlist I could create with the title “Guilty Pleasures.” Somehow, I’ve collected a fairly decent list of songs and musicians that I’d be embarrassed for my friends to know I liked.

Some of the songs that fit within that category are songs like, “Guitarzan” by Ray Stevens. It’s a silly song I remember fondly from my childhood. But, it’s not a song I want coming on while I’m driving with the windows down or when a friend rings the doorbell. Knowing my luck, I’d be belting that song at the top of my lungs, glance over and see my boss’s boss sitting in the car next to me, watching me. And, that’s when I want to crawl under the seat and hide.

Other songs that would fit into my “guilty pleasures” playlist are songs and musicians I’m too old to like but, somehow, have acquired. This category includes that unnamed artist and a whole host of others, including artists like The Backstreet Boys. Yes, I confess it. I liked some of their songs. I still do, in fact, and think they’d make a dandy addition to a “guilty pleasures” playlist. However, I certainly don’t want my friends or family dropping by while I have their music cranked and am singing and dancing around the living room.

Perhaps the bigger question is, why am I afraid to own my “guilty pleasures”? That is, why does the thought of someone teasing me about them bother me? Would my family and friends really tease me if they knew I liked those musicians and TV shows? And, why do I care if people do mock or tease me?

After all, I’ve been teased and mocked most of my life. In fact, I often think I deliberately invite that sort of good-natured ribbing. I’ve always considered myself to be an iconoclast, a bit of a lone wolf, someone who has always bucked the trends and marched to a different drummer. I’ve embraced and even cultivated that image, hoping to make it reality. So, if I am proud of my individuality (and I am), then why would I worry if someone thought my musical choices or TV programs were silly? I like them and I don’t really care if others don’t. So, why be shy about sharing my interests?

I don’t really have any answers to those questions. But, I plan to consider them at greater length. I think finding answers to those questions may help me in my larger goal for 2011 and my 39th year on the planet. That goal is to gain a better understanding of myself in order to live more authentically, with greater insights into what will make me happy, what I want to do with my talents and how I can use them to help others.

To close this post, I’ll ask my readers: What are you guilty pleasures? Which TV shows or musicians do you like but never want to admit? And, more importantly, why do you like them? What do they give you that other shows or musicians don’t?