Success is relative. I have had many ups and downs along the way, but have come to realize, everybody has some sort of obstacles and demons in their lives. Some its money, other's it can be emotional... some are lucky enough to have both or more!
I started making money in adult in mid 2000. I dabbled in mainstream for several years before that, but never anything serious. (If I only knew then...)
I was an only child and born into "money." My parents has a successful retail/wholesale business that stemmed from farming and grew into more with ice cream, food etc. Unfortunately, my father passed away suddenly when I was 12 and my mom didn't have the business mindset that my dad had. Eventually the business failed. We lost that, our home, our vehicles and everything went straight to hell.
I was never into school... I rarely went, especially after my dad died. So I quit when I was 16, in 9th grade after failing 8th grade twice for lack of participation. I was never against learning, just not fond of the formal atmosphere. By the age of 16, I was more qualified for "life" than many people that were graduating college with degrees they would never fully utilize. Being part of a business and struggling through other life obstacles teaches you things they never mention in school.
Since I started adult, (always the traffic end, never content) I've been supporting my mom financially, found out a lot about myself and others, made a sickening amount of money and lost it all several times. I made many many mistakes but have learned from all of them. Once again, I'm bouncing back from a long and tiring 2 year battle with hard times.
Stress sucks but I am glad I can appreciate things that others take for granted. I don't think life would be any fun if everything was just handed to you. It would be rather boring. I met the love of my life, Napolean, right here on GFY and doing everything life throws at us together is infinitely better than going at it alone.
Everything happens for a reason, and because of my current happiness, I wouldn't change anything that happened on the road to where I am now.
"When you're green, you're growing. When you're ripe, you rot!"