Scaling up CFD position sizes: how do you manage the jump?

Hey everyone,

I've been trading CFDs on a demo account for a few months now, mostly small caps and some $EURUSD, and I'm starting to get consistent. My strategy seems to hold up, and I've been journaling pretty religiously. I've even moved to a live account, but I'm keeping the position sizes really small – like, almost comically small. My risk per trade is tiny, which is great for learning, but it feels like I'm not really putting the strategy to the test under 'real' conditions. My question is, for those of you who've successfully scaled up your CFD trading from micro lots to something more substantial, what was the biggest mental or practical hurdle you faced? Was it just pure discipline, or did you adjust your strategy significantly? Specifically, how did you manage the psychological pressure when the pips started representing real money, not just abstract numbers? I'm trying to mentally prepare for that leap and any advice would be genuinely appreciated.