On my end, having never really cooked, everything is an effort. I have no inspiration on what to buy, no inspiration on what to cook from what I bought, and whenever I actually do the cooking, everything has to be a mental focus. I can't just "bake" stuff, because I have to focus on checking it's baking okay, turning it, shaking it.
Now I have no doubt all of this can be much smoother and enjoyable, but only if you invest enough time that each step is no requiring you to spend hours checking recipes ideas, baking tutorials, etc.
I was lucky(?) to grow up with a great cook and gardener for a mum, so I'm not even really sure how you exist without doing this at least. Pardon my naivety, but what do you eat...? Is everything unwrapped from plastic or from the local takeaway joint?
As a student, money was always a struggle, so I would mainly eat stupid simple meals. [Pasta|potatoes puree|green beans] with [olive oil|tomato sauce|frozen steaks].
Once I started working, yes, a lot of pre-made meals. That eventually gave me some deficiencies and led to teeth issues.
I then increasingly had more income, so I switched to food delivery (deliveroo|foodpanda|uber eat), which is close to "eating at a restaurant every day". Not really healthy though since most restaurant food, at least in Europe, is tailored for occasional meals, not everyday meals, so it's often fatty and not well balanced.
I'm married since then, and luckily my partner took on her to do the cooking, while I do the prep/cleaning. I don't mind doing the grunt work, it's definitely not a pleasure, but at least it's not stressful, and the food is much healthier.
Like heat, seasoning (salt, pepper), fats etc
There really is the same notions at the base of every recipe. There is a lot of books and videos that cover those basics. In a month of time through observation you can start to develop a skill that will be useful literally for the rest of your life in a most direct and enjoyable way.
Given we are exactly what we eat, it can be so rewarding that it’s really worth the effort. The challenge of learning how all those chemical notions fit together is almost on par on the challenges of learning in IT in some way.
Please take the time to learn the roots, you will be able to cook without thinking really simple and amazing things in a small amount of time, you will never regret it.
Melt some butter in a skillet, whisk some eggs in a bowl, drop them in the melted butter, wait for them to become hard, throw some cheese, bacon / ham / mushrooms and onions on top, fold in two. Voilà: yummy omelet.
Plenty of variations to be had with eggs: scramble them, boil them, try different kinds of cheeses, maybe add some peppers.