So I skimmed most of the comments and must say I agree with all of them. I totally understand the feeling that you aren't improving or you're getting worse while everyone else is jumping leaps and bounds ahead of you... when I get to this point though, I do take a good long break before I finally feel like picking up ps. People will always be rude, and there will always be that one person who wants to cause chaos. My ultimate goal in the graphics community since I started in 2010 is to get into an elite group... I've only tried a handful of times and each time I got constructive critiques... but no matter how constructive, I always felt let down... I felt like a failure. I'm not saying you're anything like this, but what I'm trying to get at, is that you along with so many other amazing artists were the people who kept me going. You talk about having less favs and yet only a few months ago you made 'I feel so alive' which is a piece that has 1,836 favs! You are definitely not losing your touch... You will forever be a manipulation goddess in my mind... just the other day my friend and I were talking on my JM how some elite groups have really let down their standards even though what elite means to us is you and a few other artists. You may think you have forgotten to swim, but you inspire so many equine artists to do what they do... if you need to take a break, then alright do it! Just try and pick yourself out of this negative outlook on your art!