When I was in elementary school, I was in the gifted program & graduated valedictorian.
When I was a junior in HS I was offered the opportunity to sign up for the Navy's nuclear program.
When I was a senior in HS, I failed to graduate with my class. Had to make up classes in the summer.
When I was in college, I lasted a year before being kicked out with a picture of my face hanging on the wall of campus security, who were to arrest me on the spot if I returned.
I'm 40 now, and starting my life over after having wasted the past 20 years due to alcoholism. Looking back, I really wish I could have fallen flat on my face earlier in life. The gifts I was given allowed me to fool myself into thinking I could achieve success while partying my way through life. I guess I wasn't that smart after all.
Alcoholism is a progressive disease. It feels for me like I went to sleep one day with the confidence I could do anything, then woke up years later to the reality that I had done nothing.