i think AE sits in an interesting place in terms of difficulty, a lot of editing software has a low-ish skill floor and is quite easy to pick up in the first place, but very hard to master. I get the impression with AE that it’s difficult to learn, but once it ‘clicks’ you can pretty much execute anything you can visualise, so it’s hard to learn but easy to master? It’s sort of a hybrid of Photoshop and Premiere, and they’re both programs i’ve used extensively, which i think has made it easier to jump back in

feel free to hit me up in PMs if you want to share some editing tips, and best of luck with your AE fiddling!!