HH,
It's quite normal to have "down" periods, which can lead to a loss of confidence. Lets be clear, this can be a dangerous hobby we're pursuing, and unlike in a car or a boat, you cannot simply pull over, or heave to in order to get yourself "back together"
One thing is for sure, you did exactly the right thing in landing - to continue in a personally worsening situation could have ended in a serious mistake. I had a crisis in confidence a few weeks ago, when I found myself really struggling with landing (I'm still not so hot now!!), but I got to the point of considering chucking the whole thing in, as something a 62 year old should not be attempting to learn. I found myself being relieved if the weather kept me on the ground - rediculous really, but I guess I felt I was never going to be good enough.
One thing I find, is that I am much more in tune with the situation when flying solo - I'm not sure my instructor likes me telling him that, or whether he believes me even!! Take yesterday for example - I am in the period of solo consolidation, with 1hr 25 minutes under my belt prior to yesterday. The plan was for the "boss" to accompany me for 2/3 circuits to "check me out", and in particular because we were using 09 at EMA inatead of the more normal 27. Pre start etc went OK, and I got ATC clearance to taxi to the holding point, BUT I completely forgot to enter the QFE and stayed on QNH. This was pointed out and corrected, but I then proceeded to go straight to pre take off checks, missing out power checks etc completely!! WHY?? Is it some psychological thing that causes me to be lax, knowing he'll pick up any mistakes/omissions??
Anyway the circuits were OK, and I dropped him off, and spent the next 1hr 10 minutes in the circuits, solo. I did not make any such errors - I was much more alert, and did 8, very busy circuits, orbiting, ATC changing routing, extended downinds, slotting in between commercial traffic etc. I was not at all nervous, but in those circumstances I was 110% concentrating. I had to transmit a couple of "say agains", and frankly did not understand an instruction to "land after" (I've not come across that before) though it caused no problems. My landings were generally OK, though I still did a couple of rather flat "3 pointers" - must hold it back EVERY time!! I was really tired and very thirsty when I'd finished (must remember to take a bottle of water next time)
So, HH, to answer your question as best as I can, for sure we all I'm sure suffer crises of confidence, and you showed good airmanship by calling it a day under the circumstances. However, I'm sure next time you will be fine, and you'll wonder what the fuss was all about. Remember, the school would not let you fly solo if they had any doubts about your ability to do so.
Best of luck - by the way, I'm not looking forward to the first time I get lost on a solo navigation exercise.....
Fly safely,
Mike n