Yeah... this was seriously one of the banes of my existence.

I was always excellent in terms of actually learning the material, and in getting good grades on tests. They came so easily to me that it was a joke. I seriously would have had to put only the minimalist of effort into school and could have gotten straight-A's.

The problem? I put ZERO effort into it. I constantly felt like s***. And so in classes that I had no business getting anything less than an A in, I ended up failing. I got a "C" in algebra II despite winning 11th place in the entire state of Florida in it at a state math competition a year before I had even taken the class. I failed Physical Science twice. I failed Personal Fitness, the easiest class in the world, twice. I got a "D" in English. I spent the entire first year of college completely incapacitated, laying in bed all day feeling sorry for myself, without even the simple energy to get out of bed and show up for class. I failed out of that first college, and was within one semester of failing out of my second one before my girlfriend and Christianity finally gave me an impetus to at least try.

So yeah, a lack of academic success has plagued me my entire life. I've always felt awful about it.