Just like how Hansel and Gretel devoured pieces of the gingerbread house with no prudence, we all find bliss in things we feel guilty about soon after. The big question is, how long can we go without them?
Written & Illustrated by Narvin Ganesh
What are Guilty Pleasures?
Have you ever had so much fun doing something, but deep down you know it might not be the most principled thing to do? These are known as guilty pleasures. It is when you experience immense pleasure accompanied by little guilt. Many see it as a coping mechanism to deal with stress or to unwind from their frenetic lifestyles. The reasons behind the guilt that follows are mainly due to how unhealthy it is or how heavily reliant people are on them.
Guilty pleasures of the team:
A week trying to avoid our guilty pleasures
The print team wanted to challenge ourselves by seeing if we could control the Hansels and Gretels in us. We decided to put our perseverance to the test by enduring a whole week without our guilty pleasures. Although it sounded like a simple task, we never realised how much we indulged in them on a regular basis.
Our weeks started off painless as we were busy working towards approaching deadlines leaving us no time to crave our guilty pleasures. Reaching our comfortable abodes at the end of our long days were when the temptations began to creep in. Be it avoiding the scrumptious box of ‘Pocky’ sitting at the edge of the pantry shelf or giving a wide berth to a delectable time with the dogs; it was doubtlessly tough to not let our temptations get the best of us.
By the time we reached hump day, Wednesday, we were pleasantly surprised with how far we had gotten. Some of us were clearly ‘dying’ as it was almost a daily routine for me to watch a horror film while having a meal at home. It felt like an onerous task to Afiah who had gone down to Popular Bookstore and left without purchasing the book, ‘The Island of Missing Trees’; one she had been wanting to purchase for months.
Finally, the final day of abstaining from our guilty pleasures arrived. On Friday, the team sat down to discuss our experience and of course, ask ourselves the big question, “Did we make it?”
I have to say, I was extremely proud of my team members. Five out of the seven of us managed to get through a week without our guilty pleasures. I applaud two of my members’ honesty as well. Out of habit, Sya had travelled home from school with music blasting through her ear buds and only realised it later that evening. Benjamin, on the other hand, got himself a medium sized bubble tea with a sugar level of 90%.
“That’s kinda cheating right?” he said with surprising candour.
The team described the experience to be a bittersweet one. As much as we struggled to avoid our temptations, the sense of achievement obtained at the end felt rather rewarding.
Guilty pleasures are almost inevitable and everyone has them. Personally, they are a great way to deal with stress as it lets us have minutes of pure bliss without any worries or concerns.
However, as Edna Ferber once said, “Perhaps too much of everything is as bad as too little.” When kept in control, our guilty pleasures should not feel so guilty after all.