I only used it to do occasional stuff to my photos that simple photo editors cannot do.
I'm aware I'm not properly answering your question here but it sounds like you might be better off ditching Adobe and using something like GIMP or Krita. I went through a period when I was struggling with my cracked version of photoshop and not getting anything done and discovered it was much more efficient and relaxing to spend a couple of hours learning GIMP.
If you'd rather use photoshop that's fair enough but I thought I'd just share my experience and offer a nudge in a different direction :)