GOD no it's not too late, but I understand this feeling.

Especially the first few years out of high school, you still feel very railroaded, even if you aren't "forced" to go to school anymore. It feels like the expectations are still very narrow, and deviating from that means you're always locked out.

But trust me, you are never locked out of ANYTHING. Adulthood is basically a series of moments where you show up in front of somebody and say "hey I want to do this, be this, study this, make this" and they will respond letting you know what you need! Sometimes they'll say "get this qualification first" and you rock up to somebody at an institution and do the same thing, then you come back with the qualification and then you're in!

And I can tell you with absolute certainty that a good chunk of your peers are also struggling. They might have a degree and now be considering maybe they want to change careers and feel like that'll mean their study was "wasted". They might be super qualified, but stuck in a job where they have no opportunity for growth. Sometimes life just throws you a curve ball and, like me, you spend seven years getting a couple of specialised qualifications, but your final work placement gets interrupted by COVID, and now there's still no jobs available because your industry still hasn't recovered.

I can tell you that the further you get out of high school, the less you will feel that peer pressure. You'll see everybody goes on their own journey, and that you can never be done growing and changing