1. Everyone struggles with poker variance. It's a weird f****d up game where winning and playing well are rarely in perfect sync. But as pig says, it does pull in the feesh.

2. No one is emotionally suited to playing poker well. Poker tilts everyone who tries to get good at it. Different tilts, different ways, different problems. But we all get tilted. First one to start controlling it wins.

3. Nearly every poker "depression" I've gone through was made worse by focusing on the short term - a week or two or even a session or two. Nearly everything about poker is easier to deal with if you can think long term, not short term. Yearly goals are much better than monthly ones, and oddly, easier to hit.

4. Going pro took daven nearly two years (as memory serves) - not just poker playing experience - from the time he started thinking seriously about it until he finally took the jump. People aren't going pro over night, and shouldn't. You need some months of steady success before you do it, so chill out and enjoy the ride for the next few months.

5. You gotta love poker. Some of the things you're doing to yourself are making you hate poker. If you're going to be successful long term with poker, you gotta love the swings, the feesh, the bad beats, the whole deal. Poker is what it is, and won't ever change. You can only control who you are, and how you react. First one to change themselves (and forget about wishing poker were different) wins.