With this year's regionals finish came a huge amount of relief for me. Leading up to the event I had some anxiety, in fact I've had it most of the year, because I was concerned that I was simply not good enough. No matter how hard I trained all year, I have been unable to escape a small feeling that I got lucky last year, and that I really don't belong where I am. I think that many athletes often feel this way and my brother jvellner recently wrote a blog post about "Imposter Syndrome" related to his experiences in sports and show business as well (link in bio). As athletes we tend to be very hard on ourselves, overly critical of our own shortcomings and sometimes have trouble internalizing our own success. We feel all of the work we put in, but often just continue to see holes while seeing only the successes of others and not their sacrifices. It looks so easy for them right? I personally have struggled with this at times and lack some confidence in my own capacities. Maybe it's part ...