12 p.m. — While eating my lunch at work, I wonder what it would be to go back to school. I’ve been working since I was 18, part-time as a student, summer breaks in a warehouse, and now ECE. I can’t help but think: What if I didn’t focus on working and saving but committed to a degree that led to a higher paying job? What if, instead of the warehouse, I spent summers on internships that opened more doors for me? I love how I live my life — and that I’m able to save $2,000 a month — but my lifestyle is very bare. When my salary rose higher than minimum wage, I kept on living the minimum-wage lifestyle of my early 20s. I didn't do a lot of comparing in the past, because most of my friends spent their 20s finishing their degrees or going to grad school, which meant that they led lives as frugal as mine. But now that they’re entering high-paying professions, I wonder if their spending habits will change — and if that will influence how I spend, how I think about money, or even how I feel about my life and its trajectory?