When you’ve had a bad day, what is the first thing you do for comfort? Chances are, like most human beings, you have a go-to “guilty pleasure” routine. Pulling on bright pink fuzzy socks, watching “Dance Moms,” dipping French fries in chocolate frosting. But why do we immediately assign the term “guilty pleasure” to so many things that we simply enjoy?

Calling something a guilty pleasure assigns shame to pleasure, and detracts from the satisfaction you gain from it.

While I admonish unhealthy or harmful behaviors, I think we often go beyond “unhealthy” pleasures and into the realm of behaviors that simply don’t withhold societal norms. No, I don’t think we should all eat bacon cheeseburgers and chocolate cake for breakfast every day. But we shouldn’t feel inclined to call it a guilty pleasure when we sleep in on a Saturday after a long week. Or when we choose to spend our free time watching a trashy TV show just because we want to.

It feeds into stereotypes, too; as a 19-year-old girl, some of the “guilty pleasures” that I hear often include eating “fatty” food, listening to certain types of music, or not wearing makeup in public—feeding into cultural norms regarding femininity and what women should do with their bodies. Whereas if someone else of a different gender or age enjoyed the same things, they wouldn’t assign guilt to them.

We often use this term to indicate that what we enjoy isn’t exactly societally appropriate for someone like us, and to tacitly acknowledge the existence of the social norms that we are breaking.

Adding an element of shame to pleasure isn’t good news for people’s satisfaction and happiness. Especially in our modern society, we need to do a better job of taking care of ourselves by re-prioritizing our emotional and mental well-being. The United States, despite being one of the most economically rich countries in the world, ranked #15 in a 2015 survey on happiness and life satisfaction, and only 1 in 3 Americans viewed themselves as “very happy.” We are a pretty happy bunch, but not as much as we should be.

Here in America, although we are economically prosperous, we must learn to elevate the quality of our culture if we want to increase our collective well-being. So, take care of yourself and make yourself happy. Encourage others to do the same. Encourage people to realize life is too short to not do what you want to do out of fear of what people will think. Go ahead, ‘gram that cookie ice cream sandwich with no shame. It’s a baby step towards a more positive mindset and a happier life.