Piano For Non-Pianists: Share Your Struggles

Have a reasonably nice piano for the kids, one of them is getting really good. Every once in a while I sit down on a bench with a lead sheet and spell out some chords or plunk out a melody or a riff- just now played the cello line from "Street Hassle" but can't quite figure out a way to do anything more systematic. The problem is, as always, what can or should be done to make it reasonably easy enough and interesting to do in the minuscule amount of time I have to devote to it in order to move in the right direction, or should it be just deferred to the unforeseeable future when there will be more time, or should it just be left to the professionals and upcoming students.

Wait, I just sat down and remembered what to do. Finger out some simple voicings for the left-hand and try to play the melody and comp myself to get going. Never mind.

Revive! So I got a Yamaha Reface CP to inspire me to work on playing keys, mostly for theory purposes, but also to get it into my hands and be able to play chords in something closer to real time. Starting very simply, just playing "I'll Fly Away" to practice playing a melody in the right and a few chords in the left.

My struggle is that I'm apparently keeping way too much tension in my wrists, and it's quite painful. I think it's a function of the undersized keys? I don't usually have a problem with full-sized keys, and I also didn't mind the super mini keys when I used to have a microKorg back in the day. But these are inbetween, and maybe my fingers are going at weird angles. Any tips besides just relaxing? I think I also tense up when I'm thinking about where my fingers go next. :(

Also any tips for good youtube channels for learning piano/songs would be welcome.

My lessons have been on hiatus since July as I was nursing tennis elbow but I’m gonna start up again in earnest once I’m done moving…maybe now I’ll practice enough, lol

I guess 3 or 4 years or whatever it has been of piano lessons might make me more of a pianist than a non-pianist but I’m definitely not working hard enough.

My wrists have been hurting less, idk if it's just because I'm relaxing or if the muscles & tendons are getting used to new things.

When playing two handed chords and shifting to a new chord, it's hard to keep track of where all the fingers are! I'm trying to resist plugging the midi cable in.

Anway, baby's first song: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqF-OZF0iq/

Ha, forgot I started this thread.