I’m 18, soon to be 19, but I feel so left behind… my 3 years younger sister went on her first date. In school (in my country we graduate HS at 19) and I always hear classmates talking about jobs, parties, even just living and I feel so left out… Im not trying to be spiteful or anything, but I don’t have a driving license, never had a relationship and spend most of my time rotting in my room. I just feel so horrible, having lost so many years and knowing the pain will likely eat away many more, having tried to escape it so hard and yet constantly falling and falling and falling… a complete waste of life, an unfixable flaw in my brain…
I think a song I like, hymn to the decadent life, describes these feeling the best.
“Without being anything, I stare into the void.” Complete loss of identity. A disconnect of myself from my body, from who I want to be.
“I’m so sorry for existing, I’m a worthless adult wasting precious air” The painful reality that I can’t blame anyone for my failure, that it’s my fault, that I ruined my life.
Chat, am I cooked?

It’s good that you got how you are feeling out, and I won’t deny you that… but…
No, you haven’t failed. Your best and your worst years are still ahead of you. Are jobs, parties, romantic relationships what you want right now? Who or what kind of person do you want to be? A carbon-copy of your sister or classmate? I don’t think so. You should spend some time to set aside the past, figure out what you want for yourself in the future and how you can attain it. Stay away from alcohol and (non-prescribed) drug dependence, and find what activities bring you joy. Your life can begin at any point you choose it to. Here’s some ideas, do with them as you wish:
Go to the library, pick out a book you might like, read it in the comfiest indoor or outdoor spot you know.
Go for a short walk, jog or mix. Try to get a little farther every day. Find parks, rivers, lakes, plazas of interest. Or watch some exercise videos, go to the gym and try them out with some 5 lb weights and use some of the machines on the lowest setting. Every other day, come back and work your way up the difficulty. It should be very rare, but ignore people that try to pester or make fun of you, but if they have genuine helpful advice or ettiquite tips you can learn from that. Search around for local sports clubs.
Volunteer for a food bank, soup kitchen, or a museum that has the kind of things you find interesting. Helping others live their life can bring both satisfaction to yourself and ample learning opportunities, and a chance to make friends.
Clean and organize your room. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time there anyway, might as well make it look nice.
In terms of a job, go to any “career event”, “open campus day”, “university fair” that you might have in your area. Look around for companies, industries and subject areas you find interesting, you’re not looking to be hired right away, but to ask questions about what kind of work they do, and education and experience you may need to be in that role. Ask what they enjoy most about their job and what they don’t like as much. Unless you’ve experienced something directly you won’t truly know how you will feel, but these are good reference points to go off of. If there’s a career path that suits you, figure out where and how you can get the necessary education.
Do you want a driver’s licence? If not, end of story, stop fretting about it. If yes, what country are you in, and what’s stopping you? Money, or will? Do some quick research on what you need, do hundreds of online practice questions by searching “[my country] driving knowledge test practice questions”, read a handbook if available and keep doing practice questions until you feel comfortable and are getting well above the passing grade.
Being social is nice or whatever, but pick any of these that you can start doing today or within the next week without anyone else’s help.
Nice. This should be standard boiler-plate text for this subs header. To the poster, I wish the sunlight finds it’s way into your soul. All the best.
I live in the Czech republic.
I can’t make my driver’s license because I can’t make it on time to the driving school because I commute to school (I live in a small village) and my ability to do anything novel is limited because I have to study for maturita (school leaving exam that you have to pass to graduate HS here) and uni entrance exams. My parents fortunately agreed to cover the application fees for the school and the tests so I’ll probably apply after graduation. I hope to get accepted to uni, so I’ll probably apply to work part time over the summer.
I am looking very much up to being able to move to a bigger city for university and have a fresh start, the sight of change, of movement is probably the main thing keeping me afloat right now.
Thanks for responding to me.