Guilty Pleasures

We all have something silly that it almost like a refuge for us. An old family friend used to run a live-in home for women who were battling extremely serious cases of addiction. When she came home, all she wanted was to watch old M*A*S*H episodes or movies like “Enchanted.” Another family member I know works with children with special needs and she loves her reality TV at home later. Pure, wonderful comedies or just plain fluff.

I very much went through a quarter-life crisis. Wow, it was an awful time of my life in comparison to before and after. I was living in the town wherein I went to college. But I was NOT in college anymore. And none of my friends were there. I had a boyfriend (the reason I moved back), but really, he was pretty useless. He was still in college, and that was hard. 2 years are a world of difference in this case.
I hated my job. Not my career, but my job. I was a massage therapist then, and had a boss who cared not how she worked her staff, but that she was making a lot of money off of us.

My hours were 8-3, no break for lunch unless I had a break between massages. I didn’t get paid for being there, only just under 50% of what they made on each massage. Even after I quit for another job, I still had only one constant in my everyday life when I went home…my refuge. I was deep into it by 3:15. Are you ready for it?

A soap opera.


You’re thinking, “Wow. Did she just admit that?” You have no idea how passionately I am about to talk about Days of our Lives.

I started watching just before college in 1997 because I wanted to know what everyone else was talking about.

And, the rest, as they say, is history. I watched on and off throughout college, but once I was out, I set my VCR timer for the show daily, and looked forward to it EVERY NIGHT. I didn’t want to miss a thing. And when I was back in my college town with no real friends to speak of, I felt like they were my friends.

No, I don’t think it was a problem or anything, it was actually the opposite. I found tremendous happiness EVERY DAY in watching Sami and Lucas, John and Marlena, Bo and Hope. I loved (and still do, though I watch sporadically now) all the complete nonsense that happens in a soap opera. Come back to life after a bloody death? Of course! It was all a plot! Change of actors? Just another day at the set. And would it be a season on Days without a good “Who’s the Daddy” storyline? Nope.

They were my “friends” if the definition is someone or something consistent and always there for you, that brings you joy, and rarely disappoints. Above all, I loved getting lost in the web of distraction that was this show. All I needed then was SOMETHING to bring happiness (almost) every day, and this was it.

It was kinda a life saver. I’ve watched a lot since those days, but now I only do intermittently. It’s just to fun to miss for too long.

What is your refuge? Your guilty pleasure?