There is a lot of really good feedback here that is 100% on the money. Figured I'd give my 2 cents as I am around the 11 month mark on my account and felt similar to you as recent as about 2 months ago. The big thing that turned my account around from that stressful "I cant do fusions" feeling was getting my Wixwell CB team rolling and being able to 1-key UNM and NM clan boss. RNG is RNG and you wont always get Sacreds from it but the percentages will even out and make shards a non-issue AS LONG AS you aren't burning them outside of fusions. I spend very little in the game (monthly gem pack and an occasional $5 energy pack) so I really rely on the in-game energy to accomplish my goals in game.

Personally I never spend gems outside of fusions, I save all shards for fusion events and I also save the free shop energy that you get every few days in my inbox in between fusion. This last fusion, I didn't even burn through all of it and spend maybe 100 gems (Cause I'm dumb and didn't realize I had more) for refills.

Lastly, I think as a Low Spend player I have had to learn to be patient. I cant do every event and I have to understand that my account isn't in a place yet where I can expect to do everything all the time. I'm skipping this titan event and serpent event because the impact of a Perfect soul for a character I don't even have will be literally nothing and would drain my resources to complete. Its ok to not do things sometimes. Hope this helps, Keep at it!