Nerves

I get very nervous before and during a game, this may be an age thing, I am an old fart. I also am a very competitive person and hate to lose, although I understand you learn from your losses, I still hate to lose. I know my positional play is weak, but will this nervousness pass with time and if so how many games will it take before I just don't worry about the winning and losing?

Once you lose enough in embarrassing fashion, you won't care anymore.  

I am older too and only recently returned to chess after a break of decades. I found myself nervous like you, but I did find a solution: play hundreds of bullet and blitz games. Then, you get so used to losing that it doesn't matter any more.

Just relax into it, enjoy the games and realise that it really doesn't matter if you lose as long as you learn something.

Hi Nick.

Maybe if you think of Chess as being different from "normal" things you're competitive with. It's such an old, complex and beautiful game that has been played for so many years by people worse than you, better than you. By people more competitive than you. Maybe just do your best to enjoy the beauty of the game and all it's complexities. If you concentrate on the beauty you may enjoy a dam good pasting and smile/learn through out or after anyway. You're not really playing a person, you're playing the position