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If it helps you at all, my photography has always progressed in steps that alternate between technical and aesthetic topics. Improvements in technical skill inevitably led to putting those new found skills to use.
On the technical side, the day that I was introduced to the concept of measuring and adjusting light in “stops”
was like being struck by lightning. Suddenly exposure made sense and I was able to intentionally make adjustments to suit the shooting conditions as well as my own vision for the shot.
On the conceptual/compositional side, a thread on this site about visualization really helped. I hate to give Tom a pat on the but his advice really helped me out a lot.

Agree with Tim. And there are days that I believe I know nothing, understand still less and can not get one deasent shot, but yet it has passed and I start to believe that I am still learning something and yes some of the shots are not total disaster, eaven to be kept and shown.

My feeling is that you should always try to focus on the aesthetics. Framing appealing compositions, watching how the light falls off a scene, etc. is a big part of that. Having an eye for photographs is really the hard part. Everything else, through experimentation and work will come naturally. You should definitely learn about what aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc. is, but once you know the basics you should put aside the technical focus and strive for an aesthetic one.

Thank you all for this practical feedback.. starting to feel a lot better…. yes.. separate left from right.. that makes a lot of sense to me. GOT IT!