You have something there Stephanie.
Welcome!!!
I was enjoying my morning time with the acoustics, bare fingers. After considerable time and effort, my thumb started feeling like it had a "hot spot" right on the tip of the thumb bone
(no "burny skin", bad hoodoo). This only got worse until I
(once again) grabbed my thumb pick. For a few weeks I have not allowed my thumb to touch a string. My thumb feels great and I
may finally have bonded with the pick. I just put one in my pocket in the morning and use it consistently
(I'll admit to being silly, I just wear the thing around the house to get used to it). I much prefer the sound balance of the strings using a thumbpick and fingers for most
(acoustic, finger picky) stuff. You can sneak that thumbpick around and do some treble work with it too, then you have some flexibility.
Of course you need flat pick skills too. See if you can find Tommy Emmanual talking about Chet Atkins. That thumb pick can be like a Swiss Army Knife. The other thing (watch Chet or Tommy) is being able to just "play" the guitar. You can use a fingerstyle passage to lead into a more raucous chorus, and then back into the quiet...without worrying about your right hand, yes! It seems like if you become deft with that thumbpick, you can do what you want with it....I'll get back on that one.
Looking forward to hearing you when you feel like sharing some of your work! If you are like me you will find that Griff's teaching is fun and provides a good solid path. Learning with him makes it so much easier when you want to tackle something not right in his courses, and what is in his courses is great!!! Works for me.