I think you’ve been putting so much pressure on yourself to be better than everyone that it’s taking the joy out of cubing and thus impacting your results. I’ve found I’m at my best when I’m not focused on other people, and instead just focusing on how well I’m doing in terms of my own results. Plus, I’ve found that once I took the pressure off of myself cubing-wise and just allowed myself to enjoy it like I did when I was 13, I was able to compete much more freely. You’re gonna kill it at NAC, can’t wait to see you there brother
I was in the same situation you're in right now (should I keep cubing as much as I can or give up on trying to be the best in the world) and I was able to figure my situation out. Here's what I did: I'm one of those people, and it seems like you are too, where if you're not actively working on a project or doing something to achieve your goals, you feel guilty. Cubing is perfect for these people because you can keep doing it forever and ever. But that eventually leads to a choice for these people. Is cubing still healthy? Why am I cubing? Is it because this a goal I really feel like is really improving my life, making me a better person, setting me up for the future, etc.? Or is it just because cubing staves off the guilt of not being productive. It's important to figure out this for yourself. What I did in last summer in August after I had come to the conclusion that cubing was unhealthy was that I set myself a goal of breaking one last pyraminx world record before school started. After school started I would stop pursuing being the best in the world. I accomplished my goal in early September and then I didn't stick to my goal and kept cubing intensively for a few months. After that though I remembered why cubing was unhealthy for me and that I needed to stop. So now I just cube every now and then. The whole other part to this is that for me, and maybe for you, cubing is also a way to not feel any emotions. In a normal day for a normal person, tons of stuff happens and there are high and low emotions. For a cuber who spends all day cubing though, these emotions don't really appear in their every day life. Anxiety, fear, frustration, even good emotions like motivation (other than to cube), happiness, connection, and love, these are all emotions that spending tons of time cubing can numb. High level cubing can make it so easy to just drift by without ever feeling anything. This can turn cubing into an unhealthy coping mechanism. So my advice is to set a goal and a deadline. After that deadline, whether you accomplished your goal or not, you should reassess. Ask yourself if the amount you are cubing is healthy for you. If you think so, than keep practicing how every much you were practicing. If not, reconsider. Can cubing be healthy for me if my goal is just to be good enough to win a championship but not get a WR? Maybe it's: Can cubing be healthy if I just cube enough to maintain my speed until I can think more about my future(in terms of cubing's role in your life)? Maybe it's: Is giving cubing up entirely too much, I made a lot of cubing friends and I don't want to just give up on them completely. Sorry if this comment was intrusive. I just feel like alot of cubers face this and I have myself so I felt like I could give some advice based on what I did. Btw, we should go to the gym after a comp sometime. I've been going for like four months and love it.
You were the best commenter on Championship stream. You have a natural presence on cam. We are seeing a shift in cubing that is hard for many to deal with who want to be “the best.” It’s crazy that “the best” was bested by F2L pairs planned during inspection. Like you said, you would like to stay involved with cubing (agent, whatever). Look forward to seeing whatever that looks like.
Please take it easy man, you are always so harsh on yourself. Please try to relax and don't cube too much before the competition, rest is key. Good luck man
you've accomplished sooooo much in cubing already. the less pressure you put on yourself, the better you'll perform. it's good to be optimistic in terms of your goals at competitions, but at the end of the day, things completely out of your control can decide your fate. take your competitions seriously of course, but not in a way where you're hauling emotional baggage with you. let your goals motivate you but don't let them get intertwined with strong feelings. if you let this happen you won't be able to focus the day of, and your own goals will hurt you. i'm nowhere near your speed at 3x3 but this is my philosophy after 10+ years of competing and it has really helped me perform well consistently in competition. you are going to do great at NAC.
you def got a lot of stuff going on - as you said, yeah just take it easy being one of the best vs. the very best is a hard question. i think for me, ive been content being okay at a lot of different things than just maxing out one thing - mostly cause ive come to accept that yeah i cant be the best at what i want to be good at either and its important to enjoy the process and have fun too, but yeah, its hard not to be hard on yourself since this is something you've like poured your heart into id say, dont focus on others around you like yiheng, focus on maxing out your own potential, however you want to define it. ofc setting expectations too high is bad for mental, i get nervous pretty easily too. but make sure you are making the most of your potential and just do your best good luck man
