Hey man, I just wanna say that you can turn your life around. I went through a really rough phase in my life when I was 17-20ish. Community college drop out, smoking weed all day, hopped around from job to job just to support my weed habit, wasn't even trying to talk to girls, isolated from my family, depressed, anxious, just awful. The only things I had were weed and a couple of friends.

You might think "well that's different than having it in your 30s" and you're right. It's definitely harder the older you get. But you know how depressing it is being 18-20 years old, hearing about all of your friends' college experiences? Hearing about the crazy parties, the hookups, the stories... just all the stories. Realizing you missed out on that. Then you hear about the academic achievements, the internships, the career stuff. Meanwhile, you're making $9.25/hr working with high school kids, and your free time activities are getting high, jerking off, and watching other people play video games.

It was so bad that I just accepted my life would always suck. But I was surprisingly able to turn it around. I went back to school, I got a stable job making a bit more money, I eventually graduated and got a FT job. I'm not killing it. I got friends making double what I make. I have bosses who are younger than me. But I was able to turn things around to a point that I'm happy with.

Anyway, thank you for your story. I'll consider it next time I think about grabbing a beer.