Don't discount how much the things that made you a social pariah in public school make you unique and interesting by the time you hit your mid-twenties. I play

Don't discount how much the things that made you a social pariah in public school make you unique and interesting by the time you hit your mid-twenties. I played a lot of varsity sports which shielded me from much of the abuse, but otherwise was pretty different socially. When I went away to Uni I had a chance to "start fresh" and that same quirky personality, combined with forcing myself to be a little more outgoing (i.e. share my true self), went over great. A big part of it was the natural filtering of the people in my environment; a lot of the "cool" kids peak and become irrelevant after high school.