Are you sure this has anything to do with the "wasted life" trope?

To me it's always seemed a rejection of consumerism in search of something more deeply satisfying: family, deeply important work, enlightening experiences, and so on.

I can't argue much with your criticism of aspects of consumerist culture, but I'm not at all convinced that you got into that topic in a relevant way. Consumerism is totally fine with routines as long as the routine involves you consuming lots of stuff. Why would it be otherwise? The bottom line is the bottom line. No value judgment. If your ad campaign for eating a can a week of almonds is more successful than the ad campaign for World Nut Market's continually varying exhortations to buy different sorts of nuts, good for you! You win at consumerism.