Are Millennials Outsourcing Their Lives? Is That Bad?

As far as my life reads at the moment, refrigerators are solely for holding Brita pitchers. And everything else in the kitchen? Well, all just an idyll, unused waste of space.

Ever since I've been living on my own in New York it seems, I've fallen victim to the all too archetypal trap that is the perpetual eater-outer. That's not to say a waiter delivers my every meal (I'm not completely living the dream), but that whatever I do eat, someone else either made, or it's a piece of fruit. Though honestly, with the length of time and energy it takes me to eat a grapefruit, I 100% take credit for that as preparing a meal.

Sure, I had my cauliflower roasting phase, my brussels sprout period, even that time after I first got my blender and every day had to start with a peach, nectarine smoothie. But still, all novice attempts at survival. Nothing fancy in the least.

And while I do feel a bit bizarrely about my sustenance situation, there is slight comfort in knowing that at the very least, I am by no means in the minority here for people my age. Youths too busy, too lazy, too bad at cooking to take care of themselves. Though on its own, perhaps this bad habit isn't too too terrible, unfortunately, the process of outsourcing one's life is an urban rabbit hole of sorts, with ordering out too often playing quite the gateway drug. What starts with take-out, turns into sending out your laundry, your dry-cleaning, paying a stranger to walk your dog, paint your nails, clean your house, wait in line for you to buy tickets to a show. And at the end of the day, what's left for you to do? What part of your life is left for you to live?

Surely all of these services must leave you with something? More time to focus on the important things - like work, and watching Netflix. 

So what's a walking, working zombie of a young professional person to do?

Well, admitting you have a problem is always a nice, quaint place to start. And admitting that no matter how well-intentioned, and gung-ho you may be, you probably won't change your life approach all that much, well that's just as healthy a next step.

I may subscribe to the mindful church of Gwyneth Paltrow, I may have pretty little dreams of taking the dog on daily long walks in Washington Square Park, cozying up at home, folding laundry, pulling a real "how easy is that?" Ina Garten and roasting up a chicken. But hey - I'm no wellness blogger, nor am I a domestic lifestyle sensation that is far too photogenic a story to be true. So honestly, at the end of the day, I'm fine with how ridiculous my silly little life is in its own small, barely functioning way.

So what if the most effort I've put into my food of late has been cracking some fresh pepper and sea salt on top of an omelette? So what if instead of buying a tub of hummus and a pita at the grocery store I order it from a deli so it's already toasted and together? The first step is acceptance, right?

[Photo via @sakaralife]