Poker Up big in 2018 and down big in 2019.. HELP!!

I had a sunrun in 2018 where I booked 2nd place in Mini Battle Royale for nearly 5k, couple of other deep runs banking about another 3k. My profit for the year was just over $5k online and about $2k live. It's safe to say that 2018 was my poker turning point after doing lots of studying on my mental game, utilising a more aggressive strategy and picking my spots. Also almost vitaly in these tournaments where I was running deep my flips just won, like at least 50% of the time to 70% of the time I just won.. it was simple?! Fast forward one year and I have made mistakes with my bankroll management for sure, I have opted to play in a number of $55 and $109 tournaments and took big shots at SCOOP and WCOOP and I did miserably. Nothing has clicked for me, like my flips are woeful and I get sucked out on in the most critical spots of tournaments where im a 80% upwards favourite... the game seems unbeatable right now. Yes the opposition is of a higher quality but I can pride myself on not tilting and still getting my money in good most of the time. BUT I am down like $5k this year! It's horrible... or maybe the better way to look at it is I'm about even over the longer term..


The point of me writing this is to ask if you guys have had a similar turn of events.. like binked a fairly big tournament then upped your stakes straight away and then proceeded to lose pretty much all of it? It's fairly soul destroying and it certainly does place doubt into my mind as to whether I am actually a winning player or I just had a lucky 2018.


I know plenty of solid pros who are true crushers of the game went broke then learned their lesson and tried again, I'm just looking to see if anyone is going through or has been through the same thing I am right now and any advice would be welcomed... I think the obvious one is drop down in stakes where the opposition is easier, play my 2018 aggressive, strong, fearless game and be patient and results should finally arise. Thoughts??

Source.