>>311106My "plan" around your age was to get a part-time job or something to reintroduce myself into society and "sort myself out". I had such a shit time in college when I was 18/19/20 (basically just walked around like a ghost, went to lessons and never spoke to anyone) that I decided not to jump back into education until I was a real boy who was happy with himself and ready to be a social busybody who might actually be accepted by people, otherwise it's gonna be another hellscape alienation ghostmode simulator.
I didn't do it in the end. I'm 29 now and have a part-time job but have no idea what I'd study and think I'll be too old soon. I've heard normalfags say going back to school really "upped their social game" (*pukes*) but then they're normalfags so of course it would.
In any case I would start low-level, maybe volunteer somewhere, find somewhere you're accepted and treated like an actual human by people, and you'll start feeling better, and can work from there and maybe pursue further education. It's not easy, I have no advice, I went on some course and they gave me a job, pure luck. But they treat me well and my hypothesis that social isolation completely ruined my life in my teens was validated. I have moments of belonging which make me want to pursue things because being treated well and held in mind by people lifts the depression blinders enough to consider doing things, at least temporarily, sometimes.
Unfortunately I think the damage is done for me because I was isolated so long, but I can see how getting a good social start in adolescence is a major key to living a "proper" life and achieving things. Without that base, whether that's friends, family, whatever, I think it's very hard for a person to motivate themselves to do anything, because there's no people so no context and no future. Maybe not if you're a sigma lonewolf schizoid elite sas operative battlewiz impervious to social needs like a sim with a defunct social bar, but that's probably not you, as much as we'd all like it to be.