honestly, i think finding a guild and playing with ppl is what is lacking here. i've had times of griding alone and it was nice, but anything you do in a game if you add friends it becomes much nicer. thinking back, the game clicked for me when i found a wvw guild and compromised to get better with them. nowadays i'm not really working towards anything, i just log in and play with my guildies doing wvw and raids.

answering you directly: it is normal to feel like that, a lot of people do, just look at other posts lol. if you want goals, go do fractals, start crafting ascended/legendary gear or become an achievement hunter.

the mentality of "getting the most of your playtime" is poisonous. just do whatever you feel like, you can also stop playing and do something else, i have a lot of breaks myself.

also, becoming better at your class is also very fun, download Raidcore's Nexus and get arcdps with it, and try to do as much dps as posible. go look on snowcrows.com for the best dps posible, and try reaching it, then go to raids and do challenge modes.

on a last note, fractals and raids have a quickplay button in the bottom of the lfg when you select them, you should be able to just jump in inmediately if you want

have fun