Guilty Pleasure – Why are we afraid of enjoyment?

Have you ever stopped to listen to some of the phrases that people use? We hear these utterances from our friends, strangers and commercials.

“guilty pleasures”

“sinful delight”

Why is chocolate sinful?

Why is something that is so enjoyable called an extremely bad thing?

Why is it a guilty pleasure to plop down on a couch, kick up our feet and sip our favorite beverage for a much-deserved break?

Why should something that gives us pleasure make us feel guilty?

I find it interesting that those are not go-to phrases in other countries. Dessert is delicious and not sinful. Taking a break is relaxing and not a guilty pleasure.

Some day I’ll need to research the origins of those phrases and whether or not they’ve affected our perceptions of enjoyment. Maybe it’s my line of work, but so many of my clients never stop to reward themselves for their accomplishments, no matter how big or small they are. I once asked a client what she did to celebrate accomplishing a benchmark on the way to one of her big goals, and she looked at me as if I had just landed from another planet. She’d never considered such a concept before. She didn’t deserve such an “indulgence” until she was completely done, right?

Many of my clients don’t take time out for themselves to relax and fully recharge. They see this as a guilty pleasure. Yet taking a break is something they will do as a medical necessity when their brains, bodies or emotions are nearing a breaking point. Recharging is so much more enjoyable when it’s done proactively instead of as a health-saving reaction.

I encourage you to see fun or pleasing activities as exactly that instead of guilty or sinful. Enjoy yourself. Every day. You deserve it.

About Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO®

As The Inefficiency Assassin™, Time Management Fixer Helene Segura empowers professionals on the go with the tools to slay lost time. Personal inefficiency at work leads to increased stress levels, lower morale, higher absenteeism, more turnover – and rising spending on employee health care and hiring. Why not improve productivity, decrease stress levels, and increase profits instead?The author of four books – two of which were Amazon best-sellers – Helene Segura has been the featured organization expert in more than 200 media interviews. She has coached hundreds of clients to productivity success and performance improvement by applying neuroscience and behavioral modification techniques to wipe out destructive, time-wasting habits.Helene turns time management on its head by sharing both client case studies and pop culture examples to teach her mind-bending framework for decreasing interruptions, distractions and procrastination so that companies can spend more time generating revenue.

Leave a Comment