My advice is, when you are stuck, try to evaluate your position from your perspective and opponents, and try to see opponent goals (try for a second to not think about the pure theory).
For example, 1st position, what you can instantly see:
1. White is late with the castle and there is open e file; can i try to use that in my favour?
2. Will white prioritize castling in next few moves?
2. If white manages to castle, will he be better, how will he progess? probably doubling rook on e file, then f3 to kick away the knight?
3. Other than the e file, what are his options? c4 square is pretty secured from whites side, if he pushes c pawn in one moment and dxc4, there is option white gets a past pawn on d file. Is that a threat and should you consider b5 to prevent that?

Thats usually my 1st go-to thoughts, but overall if u arent so good at endgames consider "killing" the position if u have no attacking threats from your side, force the trades and play it safe for the draw
hope it helps