Millennials Who Are Living Their Best Lives Often Do 8 Carefree Things That Really Irritate Their Boomer Parents
Sabrina Bracher | Shutterstock Millennials came of age in an era of dial-up internet and writing poetic away messages on AIM, back when smartphones weren’t even a spark of an idea. Millennials grew up chronically offline, and then suddenly chronically online. They give hearts upon hearts to stories on Instagram and swipe left on dating apps, which is just one of the carefree ways Millennials live their lives that make their Boomer parents roll their eyes.
Millennials living their best lives often do these carefree things that irritate Boomers:
1. Committing to side hustle culture
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Millennials have fully embraced side hustle culture. Hobbies are more than a cozy little activity to do on weekends: they’re a way to rake in extra income. Millennials entered the workforce during the Great Recession in 2008. Jobs were hard to come by, meaning it took Millennials longer than past generations to find their sea legs when it came to being economically independent, let alone financially stable. Many Boomer parents don’t understand or accept the Millennial career path, which looks completely different from what they did: stay with one company for their entire career. Millennials may job hop or take a non-traditional route to earning an income, but part of that is due to the economy they inherited.
Grind culture combined with the gig economy sent Millennial women the message to climb the corporate ladder and channel their inner Girl Boss while turning their hobbies into money-making ventures. In many ways, hustle culture has become unavoidable, as wages haven’t caught up with the high cost of living. It’s no wonder Millennials try to monetize their socials or sell their hand-crafted seashell ornaments in every Insta reel they make. Millennials don’t have the option or luxury of sticking with one job for their entire career, which makes their parents roll their eyes.
2. Spending money on experiences, not savings
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Millennials are champions of placing high-value experiences over owning material possessions. They’d rather spend money on plane tickets or their favorite pop-punk band’s reunion tour. More often than not, their Boomer parents bring their spending habits back to things like buying a house or building an emergency savings fund. The Millennial tendency to prioritize the present and pick a vacation in Barcelona over a Roth IRA makes their parents roll their eyes. Yet their reasoning might be more solid than Boomers give them credit for: Since they can’t afford a home, why not enjoy the life they have instead of saving for an impossible-to-reach version of the American Dream?
3. Snapping photos of every meal
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Millennials love to take pics of their plates before anyone is allowed to pick up their fork and do serious damage to their fettuccine alfredo, which never looks good in photos, anyway. But Millennials don’t seem to care: They’re on a mission, and that mission is to document the things they eat and share them on their stories.
It doesn’t matter if it’s craft cocktails at a trendy restaurant or a pizza they baked in the wood oven they installed in their backyard: Millennials want everyone to know that they’re eating well. As Socrates is believed to have said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” Millennials have taken that to heart, as they put photo after photo of their handmade charcuterie board out there for the whole world to see.
4. Hyper-focusing on wellness
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Millennials often have a committed yoga practice and drink cayenne-infused lemon water in massive amounts. They have apps that tell them how to breathe and a collection of crystals by their bathroom mirror, where they’ve written out their mantra for the day. Their parents might roll their eyes at their obsession with self-help and self-care, but Millennials know something their Boomer parents have failed to recognize: the mind-body connection is powerful and centering your needs is essential to living a healthy, balanced life.
As therapist Gloria Brame shared, the “optimal goal of self-care is to build your internal resources for dealing with life’s stresses. Sleeping well, getting a restful nap, making sure to move your body throughout the day, practicing gratitude, and making time for meditation all help your body and mind feel more vigorous and alive, and help you weather problems that life may throw your way."
5. Treating their pets like kids
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Millennials often don’t even think of their pets as pets, per se: they’re fur babies, and they deserve the best. Their Boomer parents might not see the point of farm-fresh meals for their sweet pup or a monthly catnip club subscription for their strange cat, but for Millennials, providing for their beloved animals is well worth the investment.
Millennials stop at nothing to give their pets the best life they can. They throw birthday parties with homemade sirloin-and-sweet-potato cake with peanut butter frosting for their dog. They share their bed and bring them on trips and are generally as devoted to their pets as their parents were to them as kids. Millennials, at least in America, are part of a major cultural shift in how pets are seen. They’re members of the family, and they should be given all the love and attention in the world.
6. Choosing jobs according to their passions
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For many Millennials, a job is more than just a way to earn a paycheck: It’s a way to live out their beliefs. They make career decisions that align with their personal and political values, even when it means taking a pay cut, something their parents don’t always understand.
According to the Deloitte Global Gen-Z and Millennial Survey, 89% of Millennials said that “having a sense of purpose is very or somewhat important to their overall job satisfaction and well-being,” 43% reported turning down an assignment or project based on their personal beliefs, and 40% have turned down a job opportunity because of their ethics and beliefs.
7. Taking mental health days
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Millennials rarely hesitate to take a day off when they feel stressed out or overwhelmed, showing how committed they are to caring for their minds and souls in a holistic way. While Boomers may have maintained a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy around having depression, anxiety, or any other mental health challenge, their Millennial progeny have spent their lives flipping the script and reducing stigma around mental health.
8. Believing in manifestation
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Baby Boomers often picture manifestation as whispering spells while dabbing love potion on your pressure points, when really, manifestation has a basis in positive psychology. When Millennials manifest, they’re changing their neural pathways. They go from believing only negative things about themselves to uncovering their positive attributes and welcoming changes into their lives. As relationship coach Virginia Clark explains, “Believing you can do something makes it more likely that you'll successfully do it. Whatever your spiritual beliefs, if you make space for divine timing and hold an opening for invisible support, your search for whatever you're looking for will not feel overwhelming."
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a staff writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.
