Breathe, mind over emotions!

The sea has been red for me for a couple of weeks now since the market is down. I've made poor choices thinking I could recover my losses, deposited more money, entered at a wrong price and ended up with more losses and positions.
Although they were merely paper losses, it was hard to feel good about it. I felt "small" when I see other pro-traders sharing their gains and thought to myself, "Why don't I just get it? Why can't I be like them?"
Well... How did I cope?
1. Stayed away from trading for a few days
2. Told myself to take these bad trades as my learning journey
3. Re-strategize the way I trade and only buy stocks that I am willing to hold if it drops and sell if it profits.
4. Stop comparing myself to pro-traders because I am not a pro. They don't become pros overnight so I definitely have a looonnggg way to go.

Today I took the courage of selling some of my under-performing positions instead of depositing more money to buy TSLA when it hit 995. While I suffered realized losses, I felt better that my portfolio is "cleaner". This presents an opportunity for me to "restart" trading with only the positions that I am familiar with.