Oh, I totally get what you're saying. I'm not even trying to digest all of this right now. I'm just going to remember that this thread is here and refer back to it from time to time.
What I'm trying to do right now is:
1. Keep playing songs. I've literally got about 8 tabs open on my browser right now with songs that I play fairly regularly. I don't want to search for them or wait for them to load, and I don't want a bunch of paper around. So, I just leave the tabs up. When I've got time and feel like playing a song... I'll bounce through a few of them.
2. Keep noodling with chords and scales. I enjoy doing that. And as I learn more, I can also do it more "intelligently". (playing chords that are actually in the same key... mess with some 12-bar blues improv)
3. Try to learn "theory" as I go. Little bits and pieces here and there. I'm sure this isn't the best learning method... but, if I spend too much time trying to read about music theory, my eyes glaze over. I'm taking it in bite-sized pieces. Little "revelations" here and there.
5. Try to learn the fretboard, the common chord shapes, and get to where I can play the chords that I want in more than one position. I'm a touch-typist. I can type any letter you want... but, I can't necessarily tell you where a particular key is on the keyboard without really thinking about it. I need to get that level of familiarity with the fretboard... to just "know" where each note is, and by extrapolation, where each chord is, and so on.
6. Try to start learning more and different strumming patterns. I've been practicing with a quiet thumb strum for 9 years. I need to get comfortable with getting "louder" and doing different stuff.
That's about it. I'm trying to chisel away at a lot of different things a little at a time, but still have fun doing it.
I've been playing uke for 9 years, but I've REALLY been slacking. Only recently have I started taking it more seriously. And it's fun! I'll watch some stupid YouTube tutorial, and if it's not over my head... I'll learn something, and I'll be like "hey, I didn't know I could do that"... and as I play with it, I realize that I've added more to my musical vocabulary.
Like, just within the past few days, I've learned to do chord runs from a G up to an alternate position G7, and a standard G7 run up to yet another alternate G7 position. Pretty darned cool, and simple due to the minimal fingering changes.
I made some huge strides in my understanding of playing 12-bar blues last night, too. I've been playing "Little Queen of Spades" for literally 9 years, and never really made the connection that it is absolutely and unquestionably a simple 12-bar blues pattern with a few substitutions thrown in for flavor. It's learning that kind of thing that will inspire me to get more familiar with the circle of 5ths and which chords are the I-IV-V in various keys and such.
So, yeah... I'm not going to let myself get burned out. I'm having fun along the way. PLAYING and enjoying a groove comes first. Getting bogged down in the details comes second.