One of the things I've always loved about Paganism is how much of it is very much 'choose your own.' Sure, if you join a group or pursue degrees in an organization, there may be structure, but in our personal practice, there are no hard and fast rules or really anyone to tell us that we should (or should not) be practicing a particular way.
And in fact, this can be a struggle for a lot of people, both new and more experienced. It's hard, because you kind of have to figure it out yourself, there is no guidebook to turn to when you have a question about how often to do a thing or whether one method is 'better' than another. It definitely takes some getting used to, that every part of your practice is ultimately up to you.
I also think it complicates things that many resources out there suggest a way of doing things, but don't make it clear that it is JUST a suggestion! I've read so many books that will introduce a practice, like meditation or reading tarot, and they will give suggestions on how often to do something, but not give a lot of options for if that one way doesn't quite work for you.
Meditation is a great example. A ton of sources recommend meditating daily, often for between 10-30 minutes. And for some people, that works great! For others, it's too long, or too frequent. Maybe you just don't have that much free time (and you don't want to spend what time you do have meditating!), or maybe you tried it and sitting for 30 minutes a day was just too much for your body.
One saying I absolutely adore suggests that doing a thing at all is better than not doing it (often applied to difficult tasks, where we may not be able to do them perfectly or even completely, but doing a little is still better than not doing it at all). In the case of meditation, if 30 minutes a day doesn't work for you, but you enjoy doing 30 minutes once a week on the weekend...do that!
Many people like to have a framework to start from, and books are great for that. It used to be that Pagan books told you how to do things (as in they explained how to cast spells, how rituals were structured, how to ground), but didn't often suggest a plan for actually doing all the stuff. However, in recent years, more books have come out with a plan, whether it is a way to build up practices or a full year of daily activities.
If those kind of things appeal to you, find one that seems enticing and give it a try! I haven't seen a suggested plan yet that I feel I would be worse off for having tried it, even if it didn't work for my life. So you really aren't out anything by giving things a go, and you might find that even if the whole plan doesn't work for you, bits of it do (and you can always keep the parts that work for you and let go of the rest!).
I think that having a rough idea of what you want your path to look like can help, so it may be useful to sit down and brainstorm about what spirituality means to you. Are you looking for something with more structure, or do you need freedom to follow your whims? Do you want daily practices that you can build on, or would you rather stick to bigger observations throughout the year (or both!) How close of a relationship do you want with deities...or do you even want to work with any? Do you want to work alone, with others or a combination?
These are a few, broad questions to start with, but anytime you learn something new, you can ask yourself how you see that fitting into your practice. It might be that you want to start off learning a little bit about a bunch of different topics, just to see what interests you the most, or maybe you already have something you really want to dive deep into, and you can start planning out how you want to approach that study.
I feel like one thing to always keep in mind is that you are absolutely free to change your mind (and your practice!) at any given time. You may have tried some things out, and realize that it's too much or not enough for your needs. Adjusting how much time and energy you devote to this aspect of your practice can make it fit better with your life. And remember, we are constantly changing, so our needs might change too...a practice that fits you now, might need adjusting in a few months, or even after decades of doing things a particular way.
Wherever you are on your path, spending some time to check in and see if your spiritual needs are being met (and are meshing with the rest of your life), can be a very helpful way to make sure you are living the best Pagan/witchy life you can. And just taking a moment to think about whether you are doing enough, or too much, of anything can be a helpful starting point in figuring out just where that sweet spot is for you. You may be surprised to find out that things that you thought were 'just fine' could actually use a little tweaking!
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