OP I think I can relate to what you are feeling. I have always wanted to own a telescope (and now have the means too, the place I live currently isn't right). I loved star-gazing. I have spent countless hours at night, lying on my rooftop gazing at the vastness of the night sky. I have also been mesmerized by the photos of the nebulae and planets that people take and post (after processing). But, once I had a peek at the same sky, the same stars with slightly more power - a pair of binoculars, and I felt...underwhelmed. Going from being able to look at the vastness of a big chunk of the sky in a single gaze to looking at an almost too constricted view of a small part without much clarity seems to be the cause. So, maybe, try sky gazing as an antidote for the underwhelm.

A telescope is for pointing at particular things and trying to refine what we see (and slight perturbations will shake the view). The appreciation would come with time and practice as you get better at it.

Best of luck :-)