It's depressing at first, but becomes strangely comforting soon enough not being responsible for having all the answers and having something to strive for.
My old man passed on a golden nugget of wisdom to me long ago. Life is only short if you make a good one for yourself. Life is long as hell when you PHCK around and put yourself in the gutter.
Just how badly the public school system screwed me. For instance, my first grade teacher told me not to get ahead of the class, as if it were my responsibility to be stupid. Then she promoted me to second grade before the end of the year, so all the kids in town hated me for being smarter than they were.