I have taken a non-standard path. I have been home schooled. I have attended public schools, small town and big city, regular and french immersion. I have never graduated high school. I moved out on my own and was financially independent at age 17. I have worked terrible jobs for insulting pay in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Labouring in the freezing cold for bitter old men who reeked of beer and cigarettes at 9 o'clock in the morning. Stinking dish pits; infernal, claustrophobic kitchens. I have stolen food from the restaurants I worked at because I was flat broke four days before payday and too proud to ask for help (but not so proud as to not compromise my ethics). I took the bus for years as a grown adult. I have been threatened, assaulted, and thrown up on during those rides. I have swallowed my pride, kept my head down, and kept working, getting nowhere for years but still surviving. I am not one of those "no regrets" guys. I regret a ton, but I don't dwell on it. I regret most of the coke, but none of the acid. I have attended university and studied physics. Yes, you can just do that, no high school diploma required. Those years expanded my mind in a way that no drug ever could, but left me saddled with much student debt. I never completed my degree. It turns out you have to be pretty goddamn smart to make it in a program like that, and I am half-clever at best. I'd still like to learn tensor calculus and tackle general relativity someday though, when I have a bit more time. I have started a new career as an electrician. First year apprentice at the age of 29. Back to being a nobody for a few years. The kitchen may have been awful, but I was at the top of my game there, and respected. Another reset. It felt like an eternity at the time but looking back it was a flash. First journeyman, then foreman. I feel pride in my work now, bringing electrical power to the people of my city. I am well paid. I have lived an interesting life, and there's plenty more to go. It makes for a good story, and perhaps I am stronger and wiser because of it, but I wouldn't recommend this particular path to anyone. Each of us must become anti-fragile on our own terms.