Quote from austinp:
The market itself has no idea whether you are trading sim or real money. How could it?
Whatever you accomplished in sim was equally doable in real cash. The difference you describe is your own personal emotions... lack of faith and trust in what you were doing then to stand up going forward forever.
There is no such thing as trader "instincts"... not to be confused with random, wild-ass guesswork that most aspiring traders label "gut feel".
Instincts include eating, breathing, running, making tools, making clothing, etc. Instincts do not extend to watching squiggly lines on a chart and internally knowing what comes next.