I was inspired this week to bring to all of you a topic that I was never able to conceptualize, but always felt lingering in the back of my mind. For once, my doomscrolling on TikTok has benefited the success of my extracurriculars. Since I saw a creator make a video titled “War On Pleasure.”
This creator spoke about his past addiction and how he keeps a strict discipline on certain habits. Just because he couldn’t find a healthy balance with alcohol or substance usage, doesn’t mean he wasn’t deserving of the simple pleasures we all should enjoy.
I thought his openness and wisdom were very refreshing and thought-provoking. A person having actually experienced his own rock bottom is still finding ways to celebrate himself. It got me thinking about society’s constant need to feel that in order to obtain a reward, we must suffer self-sacrifice.
Newsflash: self-sacrifice doesn’t make you any more righteous than the next person, and I am talking to the hardcore Type A demographic. In high school, I was friends with this girl who was a student athlete. We were celebrating a recent win for the girls’ soccer team with a cookie cake. She was probably the most fit 17-year-old I had ever seen. She only allowed herself the tiniest bite of cookie cake to reward herself.
Pleasure doesn’t end at a certain age. You don’t cross the threshold and accept the fact that Halloween won’t ever be as good as it was when you were younger. Reminiscing and nostalgia have corrupted our ideas of present and future expectations. This anti-cookie-caker I once knew probably enjoyed cookie cake tremendously as a kid, but because of negative connotations, we learn you can’t possibly have something good and not regret it.
Basic human indulgences shouldn’t be shameful or anything to feel guilty about. It’s okay just to want to enjoy something even if you didn’t do anything spectacular that day. We are all allowed to enjoy more than just water and exercise. We are allowed not to enjoy it, but still incorporate it all in moderation.
If we’re all constantly working toward having the perfect ratio of moderation, when do we get to enjoy our hard work?
Whether it’s hard work in school, or a 9 to 5 to get us by. We deserve to make choices that secure our enjoyment for our current circumstances. In a perfect world I could wake up with my dream jobs. Sadly for now I must slum it through the retail machine. Doesn’t mean that I still don’t get to choose where I work and if I enjoy it thoroughly.
Kim Cattrall of “Sex and The City” once made a comment in an article that changed my life. Cattrall says, “I want to choose who I spend my time with personally and professionally.”
I love that she spoke about choosing who she got to spend time with professionally. A concept I will continue to practice as I get older and settle into my career, to ensure fulfillment as I become a mature professional.
I live a pro-pleasure sort of lifestyle. I leave class a little early on certain days if I want to get to the nail salon early. I sleep in when I don’t feel like rushing from the parking lot. I’ll take the long way home if I want to hear my favorite song twice.
Finally for readers just trying to find a balance and juggling young adulthood. I want to ensure you take away that pleasure is not something that has to be earned. You’re allowed to enjoy every bit of this life.
Blair Bernard is a 21-year-old theatre major from Lafayette, La.
