Top 10 Guilty Pleasures

We all have habits that we know aren’t good for us, but we can’t help but keep doing them. When I was a kid, it was leaving lights on when I left a room (I’m very adamant about turning lights and electronics off whenever you don’t need them now). As an adult, they’re a little less harmful to my bank account and the environment (I hope). Guilty pleasures aren’t hurting anyone, but it’s also not something you blab about on a first date. I know I’ve got a lot of great habits, but sometimes, I can’t help but indulge in a guilty pleasure or too. Let’s get started!

1. Eating food in bed.
This has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I love to turn on a YouTube video or my current Netflix binge and scarf down some food. I don’t know where this came from since we always had family dinner with the TV off at the table when I was growing up, but it must have caught on when I was in college. I know it’s bad — crumbs, ants, spills — but I just can’t help enjoying it.

2. Reading past my bedtime.
As a bookworm, of course I love reading late at night. This is only bad when I have an early morning, which let’s face it, is every morning now that I work that 8 to 5. I try to stick to a strict bedtime since I wake up so early and truly cannot function off of fewer than 7 hours of sleep, but sometimes I just can’t help it. I have to know what’s going to happen. The pages just keep turning, and I know I’m going to regret it in the morning. That’s why man created coffee, right?

3. Splurging on coffee.
Speaking of coffee… I know I shouldn’t ever spend $5 on a coffee, but it’s something I really truly love indulging in. My favorite thing to do on a Saturday or Sunday morning in pack my laptop and a book and head to a local coffee shop to get some morning work and reading in. It’s my favorite way to explore Nashville, and it’s where I’m most productive. I don’t like black coffee (I’m trying!), so my go to is iced vanilla lattes with almond milk (I can’t drink regular milk, so I have to incur the 50 cent up-charge for dairy-free milk). I justify dropping a few extra dollars on coffee by reminding myself that I don’t do it every day (twice a week max), and I’m basically renting my own little work station for a few hours. This is a guilty pleasure I will never let go of.

4. Watching Netflix for far too long.
This truly does not happen very often, but every once in a while I will fall into a Netflix spiral and immediately regret it. There’s nothing I love more than my bed, but if I spend too long in it, I actually get kind of down. I thrive off of productivity, so days in bed are actually hard on me emotionally (I also find it a lot harder to fall asleep at night when I do this). That’s not to say it never happens though. It’s particularly bad when I start a new TV show because I just want to finish it! I watched all of Riverdale in one weekend (Oops!), and I think I’ve knocked a couple other TV shows off my list in the same amount of time. Grab a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, cuddle up in my blanket, turn on a teen-drama, and I’m good to go.

5. Eating cereal for dinner.
This is definitely a new thing, but I actually don’t hate eating cereal for dinner? It started because of how lazy I am when I get home from work. Like super lazy when it comes to cooking. I just don’t like to spend my time doing it. So I’ll meal prep my lunches, but dinner is left to present-day Kim, which means she’s either eating pasta, cereal, or a handful of pretzels. I also love kid cereal — Froot Loops with Marshmallows, Captain Crunch, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch are some of my favorites lately. I truly feel like a child eating it, and I’m fully aware of the sugar intake, but please don’t take my cereal away from me.

6. Napping.
I joke about being slightly narcoleptic, but if you turn a TV show on and I’m curled up on a couch, there is a 99% chance that I will fall asleep. I also pretend I’m not sleeping, which is just ridiculous and embarrassing when I wake up half an hour later and admit my defeat.

7. Diet Coke.
I’ve significantly cut down on this obsession, but I still crave this sugary mess at least once a week. I don’t keep it in the house, so I can’t drink it whenever, but I’m definitely getting a Diet Coke with my burger this weekend. And no, Diet Pepsi is not okay.

8. Online shopping.
There was this one time during my sophomore year of college where I got a BOX from Forever 21 (instead of the normal bag they send you), and my roommate immediately told me I had a problem. She was not wrong. This is another guilty pleasure that has changed drastically since living on my own, but I definitely fall victim to the sale emails and fill my cart with every single item I want from J.Crew every once in awhile. I use eBates, a cash back online shopping program, so I feel a little less guilty about this habit, but only a little.

9. Musicals.
I was involved in almost every high school drama production at my school from freshman to senior year. We always did a musical in the spring, and while I can’t match pitch to save my life, I truly did love working behind the scenes to make the shows what they are. I listen to “Hamilton” on a much too regular basis, and you’ll probably catch me belting “Defying Gravity” in my car if you know me for long enough. Musical theater nerds unite!

10. Pre-packaged cookie dough.
I know you’re not supposed to eat raw cookie dough, but really, what better thing is there in life?

So, now you know all my deep, dark, horrible guilty pleasures. What’s something you love to do but know better than to brag about? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy adventuring,
Kimberly