Frustrated with photography

Sometimes I love photography, and other times it drives me crazy. Because I'm not very good. I'm not consistent at all, and just learning how to use the menu options on my camera, and processing techniques in Photoshop. I do think I have an eye for it though, and if I could devote a lifetime to it, be pretty good someday. I rarely get to take as many photos as I'd like, because lighting is such a pain to deal with. I really love natural light, and my house is extremely dark with almost every window covered in huge old tree shade. Usually when I do have new photos to post, it's because I was actually outside in the morning or the evening which are the only times where the sunlight is acceptably pleasing. I refuse to use the on-camera flash. I never shoot in raw, so I get the ugly .jpg compression and that frustrates me. My photos are often in very low light conditions with the lowest f-stop I can manage, and so they're grainy and are never as sharp once I see them downloaded as they look on the lcd screen. I get exasperated at times when I see photos someone took on their smartphone and they look about as good as mine, on a more expensive camera with fancier lenses.

I feel like I'm at the same level where I am with guitar. Self-taught and have reached a plateau because I haven't mastered the technical things that will only come with committed practice. I want to take it to the next level with both, but it requires a greater commitment of either time or money.

But it's hard to justify that investment, because I  have no plans to start a photography business in the future. No desire to shoot families, children or pregnant women. I know that if I did photography for money, I would end up hating it. I find it pretty exhilarating and fulfilling when I get a pretty shot for my own purposes, though.