An exercise in maturity

I just got through the first challenge in this drawn-out process (after a much-appreciated break from the previous round) and it turned out to be a miserable failure. I'm not talking acads, though. I've come to realize that given my present situation, I have no cause to doubt my capacity to engineer results that are up to my standards. My concern is that impediment of an unrelated nature that has attached itself to me insistently and is now digging up irrational drivel in my head. It won't leave me alone.

I don't like clutter. I've geared my efforts of late towards streamlining my consciousness, leaving no room for the bother of contradictions. I admit that I still need to improve on many areas, but I'm inclined to think that I was progressing well enough until I got back and control began to slip out of my hands, again.