‘What screams “I peaked in high school” without saying it directly?’ – 17 signs it’s all been downhill since graduation

For some people, school was a terrifying slog where you kept your head down in order to survive. For others, it was the best time of their life and they’re still clinging onto those glory days.

If you’re not sure which camp you belong in, a question set by randomzy876 should clarify things. That’s because they turned to r/AskReddit to pose this question:

‘What screams “I peaked in high school” without saying it directly?’

If any of these answers resonate, you may be living in the past…

1.
‘Still acting like a typical “Mean Girl” or “high school jerk” when they’re damn near (or past) 35.’
-recolorist

2.
‘Going to high school parties in your 20s’
-WilmaTonguefit

3.
‘forcing their kids to be football players/dancers/actors because that was THEIR thing in high school. they weren’t good enough to go big leagues after school and they can’t cope with that so they live vicariously through their kids’
-senpaored

4.
‘In my town it’s always car salesmen who were hired by the owner, their father.

‘Or home renovation salesmen who were hired by the owner, their father.’
-Chrono_Convoy

5.
‘If Coach had put me in fourth quarter, we would’ve been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.’
-Big_Witness

6.
‘Always talking about what happened in highschool, my friend and I are 25 and she regularly brings up things that happened 10 years ago in an effort to put other people down, and always sending me Facebook/ instagram posts of people I haven’t thought about in years’
-Fat-Tony-69

7.
‘Dude was a cocky dickhead in high school. When I saw him years later bagging groceries he looked at me with a look of half shame, half-I hope he doesn’t recognize me. My life wasn’t great either, but at least I didn’t treat people like I was better than them.’
-UDPviper

8.
‘Still talking about good grades, standardized test scores or other academic achievements when that didn’t translate into real world success.

‘Reddit loves to act like the jocks and popular girls were the only ones who peaked in high school. A lot of the nerds did too and are still chasing that high of academic validation, especially the ones that didn’t go on to apply those skills to a well paying career’
-zande147

9.
‘When I arrived at the school where I currently work, there was a late 20s guy who attended every football practice and wanted to attend every basketball practice because he played at the school and wanted to show his support.

‘I shut down attending basketball practice immediately. His parents called my boss, who was so flabbergasted he couldn’t form words when he was telling me that I’m within my rights to refuse to allow him in the gym.

‘The odd thing? We’ve never been that good at football here but that dude wore his letter jacket as a badge of pride.’
-TallBobcat