I was smart enough to not drop out of high school. Dropped out of college though. I remember being so depressed I was just drifting around and getting drunk at a few nearby bars to the college while pretending I'm going to school but I really am skipping classes.
Won't dive deep into my whole reasoning process as it may end up being considered "hate speech" even if I don't have hatred now and can just spit out the cold hard truth.
And I have blurred memories of talking with this old homeless guy that had sage like wisdom. Not even sure if he's a figment of my imagination or an angel or God knows... I know though I was very depressed and constantly drunk during that time.
Anyway, then I showed up and didn't know it was finals on that day. Didn't take the test. Just walked out.
1st semester my grades were like 3.0 (4.0 highest possible).
And 2nd semester when I dropped out... literal nosedive.
Then was jumping around from dead end job to dead end job for many years. Did fastfood, retail, warehouse, security, janitor, delivery driver, tree cutting and snow removal, limousine driver, etc...
Now I'm a welder-sandblaster and since I've got a wide array of work experience, I can lose my job tomorrow and I'd have a new one within a week lol