I am approaching a big birthday and I want to set myself 50 challenges in the next 5 years, one of which is to swim the English Channel. I have completed several 5k and 10k swims, however beforehand I have a complete confidence crisis. It has gone as far as actually pulling out of events. I tried to swim for 3 hours over the summer and made every excuse under the sun not to do it. My question is what can I do to get myself in a better state mentally to swim the long swims.