as a fellow space animal player, sheik can be fairly hard to switch to just due to her build. either way, good luck with sheik!
what IB thinks does go through my head, so yeah, the thought of losing really cripples me. whenever the thought even comes across my head, my thoughts become full of stuff (not certain as to what), and it certainly blocks me from thinking of what i'm doing in smash. i've been constantly looking for ways to get around it, but to no avail, nothing has worked. i've even tried to stop playing and "try" not to care about it, but it just makes me worse lol.
no, apex was way too near when i found about it. i'm definitely making it to rom3 though.