Those who peaked in high school are former students who've had the time of their lives while there – whether as the star of an athletic team, head of the cheerleading squad, or class valedictorian.
While those accomplishments are nothing to scoff at, many of these former students have not had a comparable sense of achievement after they've graduated.
Some of them haven't even left their hometown in pursuit of their dreams and there's nothing wrong with that.
But friends and family members might say those who never lived up to, or even beyond, their fullest potential are non-starters.
Curious to hear of more identifiers about the experience, Redditor Grogenhymer asked:
"What screams 'Peaked in High School?'"
Sadly for these students, the thought of life goals and achievements were never realized.
Gone Way Too Soon
"This is a sad twist to this topic. A few months ago I saw an obituary for a guy we all knew from a nearby town. We all played sports against him and we knew of him because he was a good athlete in high school. The sad part was his obituary mentioned his high school achievements as his best accomplishments in life. He wasn't a bully and a decent guy but it made me genuinely sad that the highlight of his life was high school."
Jealous Much?
"I have an older cousin that gets immediately defensive and talks negative whenever she hears about anyone who is doing well for themselves. Her mom always talked her up in high school about how much of a good student she was. Whenever anyone else is successful, she gets jealous instead of being happy for them. Example: When I got into nursing school, she talked down on the school I got into. Note, she didn’t make it into nursing school and went on a different career path. But damn, grow up and get over it. The world doesn’t center around you other people can be successful too."
Letterman Jackets are a high school rite of passage. Wearing your lettered jacket is a symbol of pride indicating a student has made it, or that they are born of wealthy parents.
For The Uninitiated
"Letterman jackets on college campuses."
"They are a particular style of jacket, usually with faux leather sleeves and a fabric body, typically bi-color using the school's colors. If a student completes certain achievements (for my school it was two years completed in the sport or vocation), they are able to purchase an appliqué letter - usually whatever letter the name of the school starts with - and sew it onto the breast of the jacket."
"If you want to see what it looks like, any movie depicting college kids in the 1950's will usually show them wearing something similar. That's where the tradition comes from, I think."
Worn Out Welcome
"40+ year old guys showing up to a high school homecoming football game in their letterman jackets that no longer fit. A number of them did not have kids at the school. It was also 90+ degrees out at night."
A Jacket's Second Life
"I had no idea what to do with my jacket after high school. On one hand, it was a really nice jacket. On the other, why would I want everyone to know I lettered in band in high school?"
"Mine lived in a closet for more than a decade before one of my younger cousins was at my high school. She lettered, but her parents couldn't afford to buy her one - they are outrageously expensive."
"So I gave her mine, they switched the letter (she lettered in a sport cause she's cooler than me) and it got worn for a few more years, which is cool."
meh chord overstreet GIFGiphyStudents look to the future after receiving that diploma and flip the tassel on their cap to the other side.
But some can't seem to move beyond their high school glories.
Reliving The Past
"People trying to relive their life experiences through their children. Like forcing a daughter to do pageants, or a son to play on the football team."
"My dad likes to tell the same high school stories non-stop, but never has anything to say about life after he graduated. He even has a wooden trunk full of high school relics that I'm not allowed to even look at, because he's afraid I'll destroy something."
Post-Graduate Visits
"Literally just going back to their high school on a regular basis."
The Drama
"Grown people who still try to create teen drama. Making an issue out of every non-issue that other people just ignore, because they've grown up and they know the world doesn't revolve around them. Especially if it happens at their place of work where they should remain professional, but they feel the need to be the 'diva' and / or the 'mean girl', or they're always the victim, refusing to take any accountability and relying on gossip and baseless rumors as 'evidence.'"
"Well, at least that's the kind of people I experienced in high school, and when I see people who still behave like that I think that they peaked when they were 16, and then got stuck there. I unfortunately have met some when I worked in retail."
Hard Pass
"Attending high school football games 10 years later and expecting the coach to invite you to the sidelines."
– -Blixx-
Holding On To Glory Days
"Or showing up to practices and telling a bunch of random kids about catching the game winning touchdown in a random game."
Still Spreading Gossip
"Grown women gossiping about minors. It’s pretty common in small towns, they want to know who’s sleeping with who, who does drugs, who drinks and parties. Constantly talking about teenagers and knowing all about High School drama screams 'peaked in High School.' It’s honestly kinda sad because they’re so miserable with themselves and life."
– hkpe_
Stuck In The Past
"Being 40 and constantly posting high school football pictures and tagging people in them with overly enthusiastic commentary on how everyone should come home and have a beer."
– jsad2016
Unfamiliar Face
"Getting annoyed when you run into people who don't know who the hell you are when you introduce yourself as 'Sarah who sat behind you in English.'"
I was miserable in high school. The bullying, the acne, confusion about my sexuality, girls, boys, my ethnicity and where I fit in – it's all a dizzying kaleidoscopic drama.
I knew then I would never look back once I got that diploma – which is why I never bothered getting a letterman jacket. My parents couldn't afford one anyway.
But I have nothing against those who peaked in high school and are content in their adult lives relishing in the memories of their alma mater.
I wonder if they have any regrets, though.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
"After a recent study found 1 in 8 men under 35 admit to taking condoms to funerals "just in case", what's your experience with this?"
Select Crowd...
"I went to my grandma's funeral and hit it off with this hot nurse."
"Things were going great until my brother pulled me aside and said it was my second cousin."
'You know who shows up at funerals for old people? "
"Family members."- bumblef**kglobal
"I remember seeing a really hot chick at my grandmother's funeral."
"Immediately thought was I should chat her up."
"Then my brain went to, 'What if she's family and we just never met?'"
"I just went back to mourning."- VideoGameDana
Okay then...
"Once I was dating a girl whose dad absolutely forbid us from dating."
"Like, would lock his daughter in her room and take her phone to make sure we did not communicate."
"She told me when we spoke for a moment at Starbucks that she would date me if her dad was out of the picture."
"He died is a car crash on the freeway, and since her mom liked me invited me to the funeral."
"My girl and I sat next to each other at the funeral and couldn't wait, got it on in the parking lot of the funeral home."
"Condom was necessary."- crunchysquare
car studio GIF by ZI ItalyGiphyNever The Funeral, Always The Wake
"Ngl, some of the best parties I’ve been to have been wakes."
"In no way disrespectful, they were a celebration of the person’s life and also a massive tension release after grimness of the funeral itself."
"So I’m not surprised some people take a condom just in case."
"I’ve never done it, but I didn’t often expect to get laid regardless of situation."- Goryokaku
Oops...
"Proudly in the 7 out of 8 camp."
"But the 1 in 8 aren’t wrong."
"Heard through the family grapevine that one of my female cousins met a dude at a funeral and they banged it out the same night."
"Also turns out they were related (what’re the odds at the funeral of a relative? )."
"Distant enough they would never see each other again (different branches of her family), close enough that their family photo albums have overlapping people."- ESQBOJaguar
If You Really Think About It...
"Biologically speaking mourning/death triggers mating instincts as though that death tells the lizard brain in us that we need to procreate because death is scary."
"Scum'ically speaking, funerals typically leave people especially women in a state of fragility that leaves them vulnerable to suggestion and coercion."
"Socially speaking, some people, both men and women, seek comfort and company after/during a mourning period and when two people engage in comforting each other emotionally through a death it can trigger chemicals in the brain that cause the idea of connection or chemistry which can inevitably lead to copulation."- KURO-K1SH1
Season 18 Episode 3 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyBetter Safe Than Sorry!
"If you forget to bring a condom you increase the chance of casual sex with 10.000%."
"It’s a well-known fact."- Mukkeman
Not Just Men...
"I'm not a man and I've taken condoms 'just in case' pretty much anywhere."
"I've told folks to take condoms 'just in case' to a festival who I was sure would never have a one night stand and who I had never even seen mingle with any man/woman."
"It's a safety."
"The thing costs less than a dollar, but if anything somehow would happen, not having it could cost you your healthiness or independence/freedom due to a child being your new responsibility."
"Unless you absolutely, 100% am sure you will not be having sex that day, and no one will be able to change your mind - carry a condom."
"And having visited a funeral is likely not impactful enough to everyone to make them absolutely sure of that."-deterministic_lynx
It Is, Indeed, A Source Of Comfort...
"I'm a woman, but I'm going to point out that grief affects everyone differently."
"Some people get an intense need for sex when they are grieving, I speak from experience here."
"Perhaps they're carrying them everywhere already, but choosing to take some specifically to a funeral makes perfect sense to me."- Sexy-Snowflake
"My bf's son died, and his sex drive was significantly higher around that time period, I think it's just a way men deal with stress."- Arielxxxlee
Sexy Ava Gardner GIF by Turner Classic MoviesAlways Listen To Your Mother...
"When I turned 15 my mom told me to always have a condom in my wallet just in case."
"That was before people realized it was really bad to keep it in your wallet."
"So yeah I’ve been pretty much everywhere with one 'just in case'."- euphoria110
If It's Already There, Why Take It Out?
"I do too."
"I'm not going to remove the random condom that is in my wallet just because I'm going to a funeral."
"Not that I ever needed one, I'm still a virgin BTW."- azarbi
When One Life Ends, Another Begins...
"I’ve heard that the proximity of death increases the desire to make new life."
"Anecdotally, my FIL and MIL met at a funeral and 9 months later my husband was born."- KerouacsGirlfriend
Lionel Messi Hug GIF by FC BarcelonaGiphyNot SPECIFICALLY Funerals...
"We bring condoms everywhere, 'just in case', not only the funeral, you silly!"- WeetIkVeelNL
No one should be judged if they happen to have a condom with them when attending a funeral.
After all, should the moment arise, better to be prepared and safe.
On the other hand, if any of these people are attending the funeral with the intention of "getting lucky", that's just... yeah...
Redditor Spinksy48 wanted to understand the fun of letting your opponent lose by just doing nothing, so they asked:
"What is your 'never interrupt an enemy while they are making a mistake' moment?"
If the story starts to get really crazy, just wait for a break.
Then ask a question from the beginning.
I guarantee you know more of the lie than they do.
Just keep talking, friend.
Gotcha
Dashcam Hello GIF by TranscendGiphy"I let the lady who changed lanes into me run her mouth about how I rear-ended her before pulling the cop aside to show him my DashCam footage."
ThrowingChicken
A Cherry Wave
"I was accused by a neighbor of reversing out of my drive and hitting his car. He gave me the date and time I had allegedly done it and pointed to a (small) scrape on my car that supposedly matched perfectly the location of the dent on his. This was 7 weeks after the alleged event, by the way."
"I said it wasn't me but told him to contact his insurance and we'd see what they said. A few weeks later I get a letter from my insurance asking what had happened, to which I responded with the date I had bought my car (and updated my insurance) - two weeks after the supposed bump."
"He never spoke to me again but I used to give him a cheery wave every time I saw him glowering at his window."
Gazcobain
Speak Once
"In a meeting with my project manager who has not been in the office or worked a proper full day for MONTHS, she has increasingly been annoyed by people bypassing her to get things done by telling me and her other direct reports what to do."
"I was about to answer a question for stakeholders, and she told me to let her speak one sentence and will let me have my bit. I did as I was told, and she told the stakeholder a completely wrong thing about the system we were handling and made a complete fool out of herself. She got sacked this month."
choiaera
We Hated Each Other
"Guy stole a presentation from me, this is 25 years ago. We hated each other. When he started presenting I realized I had made a huge error, didn’t say anything. Let him get through it. Asked him about the error, but he couldn’t answer. This was in front of COO. Got fired, not for just that, he was an overall douche. This was before everyone was on PCs, and had one printer in one room."
Bmilvis
Whoops
Office Space GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"When a coworker who I hated got fired a few weeks after I decided to stop fixing his mistakes even if it impacted a client."
Hrekires
It's always thrilling to see the bad colleagues go!
Bye. Bye. Bye.
I will see you on the 15th
Idiot Reaction GIFGiphy"Not my story, but several years ago my older brother was fighting for custody of his son with his ex-wife. As the first custody hearing date approached, they were exchanging [un]pleasantries over text and my brother ended up saying something along the lines of, 'I'm not continuing this conversation. I will see you on the 15th.' The ex-wife told him, 'The hearing is on the 25th dumba**.'"
"So of course instead of correcting her, my brother just allowed her to keep thinking it was the wrong date, and she missed the first hearing entirely. It became the first of many mistakes she made in the court system that eventually led to my brother and the woman who is now his second wife winning full custody of his son."
Damn_Furries
Follow the Prints
"I'm working on a job site and the architect is there one day. I've been given some light fixtures for the sconces in a leasing office lobby. The fixtures are meant to be hung from a ceiling, they can't be installed on a wall. I attempt to convey this to the architect, but he brushes me off and just tells me to follow the prints."
"I turn to the apprentice and say, well you heard the man, put them up. A bit later, we hear the crashing of glass. The architect asks what was that? I said your light fixture. As I picked up a broom and dustpan to go clean up."
Ohhhhhhthehumanity
No Debt
"As I was being fired from a job, the district manager requested we record the conversation. He thought I was gonna be very upset, so I obliged. Then when he started to tell me why I was being fired he started with, 'You are gonna be graduating college soon, and we want to make sure we get ahead of you leaving us.'"
"I very calmly asked him to send me the recording right after he said that. Then later that day I called a lawyer. I now have no student loan debt."
JRTHEAMAZING
The Screams
"I reminded my ex-wife the divorce court was the next day and was invited to Get F**ked. So I went by myself, she failed to appear and pissed off the Judge so he asked what would be my desired outcome for assets and Custody of the kids. He wrote down whatever I wanted and I could hear her screams when she read the Orders from 3500km away."
comfortablynumb15
Silence
"There's a thing in law enforcement/legalese called a spontaneous utterance. Many many people will bury their own cases with these while bi*ching and moaning at their arresting officer on the way to jail."
raccoonsonbicycles
That last one is good knowledge to have in the back pocket.