Wise words, Orc Chief <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />
if I may, I'd like to add this:
1. if everything fails - use humour. High self expectations and striving for perfectionism might be eased this way.
2. be patient with yourself, and watch how loving parents encourage their anxious kids. Try this on yourself - respect your own pace.
3. If you have the feeling, the whole day(week) was only a constant battling with yourself and others - use a diary and jot down all events. You might find out to your surprise, that black beads and white beads are balanced and you missed this, cause you focused on events "showing" your failures.
Beads => thoughts, events, incidents. Black are the ones where you lost confidence, white the ones where you accomplished something. Beads can be everything: a quick smile amongst strangers meeting your path for a second, a thank you, a good laugh, the sun rays on a wall, the calculator you lost a week ago and found at last, the beauty of a pic etc. All incidents (black+white) show, you're alive.
And, of course, what Luc said: Love yourself. Love yourself as you are, love yourself as you would love your child: because you exist, because you want to learn, because you have the faith in your ability to learn. And no one can learn walking or running through the path of life without occasionally falling down and nursing ones bruises. (Keep plasters handy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> )
