I think I'm ready to make a change, but I feel like I need more education. I know you are probably asking why, but I feel like I can't exactly do what I want with what I currently have. Going back to school might be kind of dumb, but what are my alternatives? I would love to throw 100 percent of my income at that debt and get it taken care of in 5 years or less, but I don't think that's even possible, and what's worse, in the past when I've made sacrifices to try to save money, I ended up being uncomfortable and actually spending MORE. I have a problem. I don't tend to reason through my situations.
Yeah, I think we're all noticing that you operate from the gut, rather than reason. You seem like your response to being lost in the woods would be to run in some direction, ANY direction, rather than to sit still a moment to try to get your bearings and figure out which direction would be best.
At heart, I think what everyone here is telling you-- in one way or another-- is to STOP DOING THAT, because a) that's what got you into trouble in the first place, b) it is prone to getting you into more trouble, and c) it is not, in any way, shape, or fashion, going to be helpful in getting you OUT of trouble. You feel like, because you have a big problem, you need to solve it with something equally big! and fast! because it sucks to feel like this! This is not the case.
Consider what you were talking about when you said "I end up being uncomfortable and actually spending MORE"-- because learning to deal with discomfort without throwing money at it is at the heart of the philosophy around here. We use relatively mild discomfort (OH NO I CANNOT WATCH THE TV SHOW I WANT IMMEDIATELY / OH NO I HAVE TO MAKE MY OWN DINNER) as a tool to inoculate ourselves against things that are actually hard and bad. Think of it as
curated discomfort-- a specific set of discomforts selected to increase your satisfaction in life, and your confidence, and your joy by learning to overcome them.
We live in a culture that is terrified of boredom and terrified of discomfort. We are no longer encouraged to entertain ourselves or to toughen up; we're encouraged to buy things that will solve the immediate problem, although at the cost of never letting us learn how to deal with it ourselves and never letting us learn patience by having to wait for things.
What we are telling you is to be still for a moment and just sort of sit with the discomfort. Sit with the discomfort of being $100K in debt. Sit with the discomfort of being dissatisfied with what you are doing. Sit with the discomfort of not having everything you want RIGHT NOW. Don't berate yourself for it, don't flail around for ways to fix it as fast as possible, just hang out with these discomforts and let them exist.
Then start making changes. Not drastic ones; we are asking you to start making your own smoothies, not OMG MUST SOLVE ENTIRE PROBLEM RIGHT NOW. The point here is to grow as a person, and, by doing so, transform your financial situation.
Going to school to solve your problems is a solution that you're comfortable with, but honestly it ain't all that. Employers are more impressed by "I am fluent in Spanish after living in Mexico for three years" than "I went to school to learn Spanish and I have a degree to prove it!", because the first indicates that you're a badass who can brave the confusion and discomfort of learning another language through use in the field, while the other indicates that you are comfortable with learning things in a classroom setting and writing papers.
Get comfortable with discomfort, delayed reward, and inconvenience. Start by making your own smoothies.