my story, I was fed up as well some time ago...
I agree with biGhuK. I have been more or less in a situation you described. I've been playing for 13 years and a few years ago I was fed up, wasn't doing well in tournaments and felt the lack of motivation during the tournament matches. Likewise, I've never been great but on my best moments I've managed to shut out few best players in Europe.
Then, I decided to take a break and wouldn't play until I _really_ have the desire to play again. For me, it took about 1-2 months, first I didn't have any thoughts about playing. Then, after 1 whole month without a single shot nor without any contact with pool/billiards, I started thinking about pool again and for a couple of weeks I toyed with the idea of playing and thinking about all the positive sides of pool and also the social part of it. Finally, I felt like trying again, but just for fun. Of course, my game was a mess after the break, couldn't shoot anything. But gradually, I started gaining a little bit of confidence. I played just for fun for a few months and went to the pool room only when _really_ wanting to play. At the time it was maybe once every week/2 weeks.
To make the long story short, after the break, I played for a full year without any pressure, just for the joy of shooting the balls. For the last 6-8 months, I've been playing more and more, but never had the desire to return to those 10-12 hours per day practising sessions like in did in my teens. And, now I think I play much more solid and with a ton more confidence compared to the time before the break. And as a bonus, I was able to correct a couple of flaws in my technique because I had to relearn some of the finer aspects in the game/stroke/stance. Nowadays I play only once/twice a week plus tournaments and usually practise less than 5 hours at a time. By playing less, I keep my motivation up and that added motivation and energy is transferred in the tournament play. I hardly ever lose my motivation on a tight tournament match and I'm way more consistent in beating the weaker opponents, because I have a much more positive attitude towards the game and I enjoy the game itself, to see the balls disappear to the pockets and running the cueball in a string.
My game was so relaxed that I was able to shoot a very relaxed match about 1½ years ago against a world class player in an international tournament and beat him easily. I was really surprised ! I wasn't in dead stroke, I was just relaxed and enjoyed every shot of the match and even missed a couple but was totally able to shrug and get over those misses instantly and remain relaxed. Felt like the Zen master of pool !
I hope this story helps... at least the break helped me a lot...
