The “popular kids” generally spend the rest of their lives catching up.

I know this is an unpopular opinion because this topic is often discussed with a conclusion of the opposite. I can only speak anecdotally, but from my experience with my friends in high school, there are often two camps: the wildly popular, outgoing, socially well connected people, and then those who tend to have fewer friends but are more focused on their hobbies and education. <br><br>For those of us from the second camp, it seems to me that we tend to start achieving our life goals early, spend most of our 20’s getting settled and ready for the long road ahead, then really start our careers and get financially settled. <br><br>The popular kids, on the other hand, tend to have a more difficult time transitioning from childhood and adolescence. I think everyone knows someone who spent a lot of time being the life of the party and never really achieved anything in school, only to graduate and focus on partying beyond the age of 25. <br><br>When they do start trying to get their shit together, they usually start from the beginning. They’d have no educational credentials, they’d have no work experience, they’d have no skills. It would be very difficult to get started, and they’d spend years of their lives trying to gain all of the things that adulthood requires. By the time they get themselves together, we’ll be on our way to becoming experts in our fields and already have our lives in order. <br><br>I think if we’re not there already, we’ll be there soon enough. And I think that a lot of the popular kids will spend their lives catching up.