If I compete, I will most likely hate the entire experience. If I don't compete, I will feel bad about wasting money, and I will feel like a wuss for backing out. My mind is in the absolute wrong place right now, and I don't know if I can correct it in time. At this moment, there is just no way I can fool myself into believing that I'm awesome, and I cannot go into a competition feeling like I suck.
I hate the pressure that I put on myself when I compete, and it doesn't change whether I win or lose. Even though I won all of my matches at the last tournament that I did four months ago, I was still disappointed in my performance, because I didn't live up to my own expectations. I know it's supposed to be about learning, and that is why I do it, but I can't help but feel like I let my teachers down when I don't do as well as I think I should. They always tell me they're proud of me just for competing, but when my school's name appears alongside mine, I want it to be in a positive light.It hasn't helped that I've been sick this past week and I haven't been able to train (which could very well have been brought on by the stress I've been experiencing over this). I wish I could just let it go and not think about it at all, but that's not really in my nature. I actually think I've done a pretty good job by not totally freaking out about it until now! It's 2am, I can't sleep, and I still have no idea what I want to do. In less than ten hours I will be back on the mat training, and I'll have to see how I feel about it after that. Things usually look better after a little grappling.