[Carolyn_Grace]

Many of the posts so far have been extremely insightful, and I feel the same way, especially about Kim's. I don't want to repeat what other's have said, so I'll just share two things:

1. During a personal moment of frustration, my mentor (yes, adults have mentors too) and friend of mine told me, "It's hard to see things done wrong, when you have seen it done right before." As simple as that statement was, it made me realize *why* I was frustrated, which led me to being able to better deal with the frustration in the first place.

Often, our brains play tricks on us. We *feel* these emotions and let them get the better of us. This is especially true after three days in the shop until midnight, or three straight days of competition with only 4 hours of sleep each night. When we're tired, our worst enemy is our own mind. Being able to acknowledge that can help.

2. One way that helps with dealing with my own team's disappointment is actually having an abundance of friends on so many teams. A direct example of this is this past weekend's Michigan State Championship event. I had very dear friends on every alliance that played in the semi-finals. No one picks a team because they are friends, we all "play to win," and that often leads to us competing against each other. This turns into a win-win situation. Yes, we all want our individual teams to win, and we will play our heart out to make that happen, but at the end of the day, if my team doesn't win, it is still extremely rewarding to see the tears of joy in my friends' faces as they celebrate with their teams. Friendship takes away some of the sting of losing.