Guilty pleasures

I watched John Tucker Must Die the other day and found that, as I sat down to watch  it, I had to justify it to myself saying 'it's just a guilty pleasure' and it got me thinking about all the other things I've named my 'guilty pleasures' in order to properly enjoy them in the way I want to:

1. Mcfly/Busted (now basically the same thing with the exception of Charlie)

2. Mean Girls

3. Boys with a cute side fringe

4. A cup of tea between my first and second lesson at college

5. A chocolate bar to dip into said tea between first and second lesson

6. Putting cheesy Doritos in my sandwiches

7. Harry Styles' face

8. Any 80s film (particularly those directed by John Hughes)

9. Strictly Come Dancing

10. Any form of potato-based food (especially if cheese is involved somehow)

11. Pop punk

I absolutely love all of these things, and I generally allow them to affect my life on a daily basis (particularly pop punk, I don't think I go a day without pop punk), yet I still insist on calling them my 'guilty pleasures' rather than my 'interests'. Making them out to be something that I enjoy, but don't necessarily enjoy enjoying, means that I can like them without feeling like I've become the complete stereotype of a 21st Century, British teenage girl, because everyone knows that the absolute worst thing you can become is a stereotype. I mean, murderer? Clearly you've got some issues you need to work out. Terrorist? Just a product of religious propaganda. But stereotype?! What on earth were you thinking? You see stereotypes every single day, you know the signs, why didn't you stop it from happening while you could?

Yet the reasons stereotypes exist is because everybody likes to do them: they're fun. And the reason 'guilty pleasures' are called just that is because that's what they are: pleasures. If you take the stigma, the irony and the guilt out of it, then everyone can enjoy them without feeling like they're doing the worst thing in the entire world.

I honestly love every single one of my 'guilty pleasures', and wouldn't be able to go a week without taking part in at least five of them. They're where I get most of my enjoyment from; they make me happy; and I refuse to feel guilty about doing something that makes me feel positive about my life. 

And I invite every single one of you to do the same.