One of my first pro events I played Thorsten Hohmann. I was down 7-1 going to 11. It was a 10PM match and by this time all the other matches were done, so everyone was watching my set. I fell into a trance and ended up coming back and beating him 11-9.
I was eliminated later on by Chohan and Kiamco. When I was watching the finals Tony Robles was walking by and he stopped and told me- "That set you played with Hohmann was the best played set in this tournament." That was pretty strong, and helped me gain confidence that I could play some pool.
The moral of the story is to appreciate how impactful a sincere compliment can be. I'm one of the better players in my region and as much as I hate to lose, I know that when people beat me it may be their parallel to my win against Toasty. So I let them savor it, and I'm always looking for the opportunity to give someone a little wind in their sails.
Rivals on the table, companions on the same road.