Fingerpicking, any advice?

Hey guys, I’m an absolute beginner -I got my first guitar just a little over a month ago (a cheap Peavey in a strat model with a small Peavey amp to match) and I have zero prior music experience. Needless to say I’m total new guy but it’s so far been crazy fun/frustrating trying to pick up something new and I love it.
I saw a recent post asking about favorite picks and had a topic of my own come to mind. I started on a medium Dunlop but in the last few days was introduced to fingerpicking style by my cousin who plays banjo and bass and I want to branch into Bluegrass. He said you can do it on a guitar so I gave it a whirl. Skipped way past the beginner lessons I’m on with Papa Gates to the advanced ones on using fingers as well as checking some vids on Youtube. Everything I do feels clumsy on a guitar anyways, so I assumed that’s just part of the learning process…. but I have to say it just feels a lot more like the guitar “is in my hand” or I’m closer to the guitar. I don’t know if that makes sense or not. It just feels good to me. SO I’ve kind of been practicing everything in lieu of a pick entirely.
So my questions are would y’all recommend continuing with it or practicing it on the side? How much does it matter in the long run? Any advice or experience of your own to throw in? And finally, any good beginner songs you have to recommend that utilize note and chord changes to help keep learning?
Sorry for how long the post was. Look forward to hearing back and meeting everybody!

Just want to say thank you for the responses everybody, y’all gave me some good notes to take. I don’t have a music background and I don’t know how late 24 is to start but better late than never eh.
Alan- You’re right, gonna have to keep on at it to make it not so awkward But this has been a lot more fun and satisfying than my other awkward attempts at starting hobbies. And seeing communities like this that are more supportive and not degrading is a huge relief.
Ed- Thanks for the vid, I didn’t think there were that many ways to hold a pick and even some of the ways Troy described were ways I have been told are no-no’s (particularly holding it up in the second knuckle of the index finger). Definitely going to have to keep experimenting. As far as my sound goes, I don’t even quite know myself where I want to go with it. I love metal but I’m not stuck on it. My inspiration for starting was listening to David Gilmour from Pink Floyd play. And since starting I’ve been more inspired by the sounds of classical and Spanish guitar than I had been before – and the way I feel like that came out in Syn’s playing on The Stage more than previous albums was even more inspiring. And how that classical sound gets applied on an electric through the amps – those sounds stick with me so much and that’s something I want to create. So yeah, got a lot on that to think about.
Ids- Thanks so much for the song recommendations, and the fact that they’re all varied in their sound is awesome. You’re a godsend.

Awesome advice, again communities/ families like this are inspiring as hell to see and I’m glad to be a part of this!
Billy – Hooah brother. USMC active duty myself and needing new hobbies more than ever to maintain sanity. Hahaha we’ll see how that goes.
Calvin – Sorry if I gave the impression that I jumped around, I’m still following in on PG’s beginner lessons. I just meant I checked out his videos ahead of anyone saying “There’s already a video for that”. These are definitely the best resources I’ve seen yet with how well they’re made and explained and I’m taking my sweet time going through the lessons and re-going through them (and lowering the speed) when they’re too much for me on the first go around.
Ids – Thanks for that link, your resources have been awesome!
Papa Gates – Thank you so much. I’ll keep you and everyone posted as time goes on how my sound develops from where it’s at in square one. Maybe one day it’ll get good haha, just needs a lot of TLC. I’ll keep playing around to see what we can come up with.
Thanks everybody. Gonna keep on practicing, making my way through these lessons, and applying what all of you have shared with me. We’ll see where it goes!