I was a ****er [true story].
I was a clever kid, but my school wasn't exactly great; I had a great group of friends, but let's just say they're not exactly angels. They smoked, drunk, did drugs - you name it. It wasn't always like this; just the latter years of school when they [my group of friends] became manipulated by the social norm of our school and age. Anyway, I was influenced by this... sort of. Well I never did drugs or fully smoked. I used to "socially" smoke (very rarely) at a period of time. I hung round on street corners, drunk; I hung round with thugs basically. I would get into fights occasionally, my friends would - it was a endless cycle and one that leads to many's downfall. This phase affected my education and, even though I was clever, I never did homework and was always in trouble.
I guess I turned around during my final year or certainly near the end of it. My family always encouraged me to do well and were disappointed in my antics and general performance in school. I was never disrespectful to them, and yeah I was still in the top classes, but I was just heading towards impending failure. I basically kicked myself in the *** and motivated myself to do well in my final exams and I did; they were actually good marks, but I was predicted straight As (so yeah bit of a disappointment in that department). Main point is that I got into college and, even though I still hung round with my former friends, I met new people and became less of a "thug" (harsh term, lol). I still got drunk, went out, but I was more mature about it. However, I was still hanging round with my old set of friends who were still intent on taking drugs, picking fights - I grew past that and eventually grew past them in my latter year of college.
Even though I did mature and become a better person, my old habits remained throughout my college tenure (16-18). I wasn't committed, I never did work, I rarely studied etc. In the end I pulled through and got into University. Anyway, I think we all--or some of us--can go through that phase where we do make the wrong decisions, but life is about overcoming these I guess and it moulds our future selves. Now, I don't surround myself with the wrong people, I'm more motivated, I'm not obsessed with getting into relationships, I'm not stressed, I'm not as angry; I guess I've changed quite a bit. I'm in a place now where I've left University (momentarily) and set on moving to another country to pursue my career. I'm happy with what the near future holds and I know what I want to be and I'm focused on achieving my goal - though I'll never be content, I never will be, and I guess that my biggest weakness.