Grocott's Mail
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Saturday, May 17
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Grocott's Mail
    • NEWS
      • Courts & Crime
      • Features
      • Politics
      • People
      • Health & Well-being
    • SPORT
      • News
      • Results
      • Sports Diary
      • Club Contacts
      • Columns
      • Sport Galleries
      • Sport Videos
    • OPINION
      • Election Connection
      • Makana Voices
      • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
      • Newtown… Old Eyes
      • Incisive View
      • Your Say
    • ARTSLIFE
      • Cue
        • Cue Archives
      • Makana Sharp!
      • Visual Art
      • Literature
      • Food
      • Festivals
      • Community Arts
      • Going Places
    • OUR TOWN
      • What’s on
      • Spiritual
      • Emergency & Well-being
      • Covid-19
      • Safety
      • Civic
      • Municipality
      • Weather
      • Properties
        • Grahamstown Properties
      • Your Town, Our Town
    • OUTSIDE
      • Enviro News
      • Gardening
      • Farming
      • Science
      • Conservation
      • Motoring
      • Pets/Animals
    • ECONOMIX
      • Business News
      • Entrepreneurship
      • Personal Finance
    • EDUCATION
      • Education NEWS
      • Education OUR TOWN
      • Education INFO
    • EDITORIAL
    Grocott's Mail
    You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Winter and the psychology of guilt
    Uncategorized

    Winter and the psychology of guilt

    Grocott's MailBy Grocott's MailAugust 29, 2013No Comments2 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Call them pleasures, call them habits… We all have them. What they have in common is that they often make us feel guilty. If you think you don’t have them, you’re probably still in denial.

    Call them pleasures, call them habits… We all have them. What they have in common is that they often make us feel guilty. If you think you don’t have them, you’re probably still in denial.

    From overdosing on chocolate treats to watching too much Honey Boo Boo, it seems winter is the season for indulging in all things ‘unholy’.

    We go into hibernation and experience extended periods of social deprivation. What it boils down to is an unfortunate series of events that can only be explained in terms of an idle mind exposed to sub-zero temperatures.

    So, as a means of sending winter and her wicked ways off till we meet again next year, I’m baring it all (in the proverbial sense of course).

    Winter confession alert! I blow-dry my armpits. It’s a pretty good way to keep warm. I love it – maybe a little too much. It has become a bit of an obsession, to the point where my day would just not be complete without it.

    When my neighbour caught me performing my warming ritual, she and I both struggled to find a logical explanation for why I was doing what I was doing. Indeed, why do I engage in this behaviour?

    Psychologists at Stanford University seem to believe that pleasure ultimately outweighs the guilt part. Let’s say you’re on a gluten-free diet and there’s this bowl of Recco pasta winking at you: "come eat me".

    In the end you give in and you feel utterly ridden with guilt. But it was obviously a satisfying act too! And that, this pleasure, increases the likelihood of repeating the act.

    It’s a dirty dance people! But hey, somebody’s got to do it.

    Previous ArticlePhubbing is phatal
    Next Article On the Money: Rhodes gets street cred
    Grocott's Mail

      Comments are closed.

      Code of Ethics and Conduct
      GROCOTT’S SUBSCRIPTION
      RMR
      Listen to RMR


      Humans of Makhanda

      Humans of Makhanda

      Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

      © 2025 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.