Every group of friends has that one guy who actually likes eating there and would eat there willingly. In our group, that friend was Matt. Matt would bring over Captain D’s to our apartment some nights. I remember how my roommate and I would marvel over the fact that Matt would choose to eat such a meal when he could eat, well, anything else.
The thing is, Matt really enjoyed eating Captain D’s in a totally non-ironic way. He wasn’t eating there so that he could talk about eating there, and he wasn't eating there to make some sort of statement, like most people do about not going to Starbucks. He was eating there because that was his preference. He wanted to eat there, and he enjoyed it. And he’s not the only one.
On several occasions I've had clients who would come in for therapy and would describe their weekends as special when they had a chance to go and eat at Captain D’s with their family or friends. And they were completely genuine about it. And that’s humbling, because, believe it not, I find myself too proud to eat there sometimes. I might even like Captain D’s if I gave it more of a chance.
I’d wager that with more genuineness comes a higher degree of contentment, and more contentment comes a higher degree of genuineness. That’s not to say that your life will be perfect if you admit to liking Nickelback, but it is to say that it lessens some of the anxiety.