An encouraging thought (adapted from a comment by Larry Gassen about ultramarathon running):
Your first year is the worst possible indication of how you'll do in the long term. Your second year is the second-worst --- and so forth.
Precisely the same rule applies to education, writing a journal, learning a musical instrument, marriage, ...
(see also TenThousandHours (20 Sep 2001), ... )
TopicRunning - TopicLife - Datetag20040625
(correlates: NameThatTune, AndThenTheVultureEatsYou, LatentJoy, ...)