Need advice/guidance: I'm following but feel like I'm lost when it comes to thinking about doing it myself

No problem, it's normalizing for me also to see other people having the same issues. Makes me feel better about days when I have my own doubts! :)

I know this is a tad old now but, as I just got this course and saw it...

I think most people feel like they are in the same boat. I have this desire to memorize and remember everything but, it's just so much. I went thru and not only took notes on everything but, went to the w3schools site and made myself a giant review of all the terms and what they do. I also went thru there site which has quick reviews of everything and, that was also incredibly helpful especially with JQuery. Doing that and coming back to re-watch those courses really helped in my grasping things. I had heard them multiple times before but, I finally felt like I was really understanding instead of just following along. I have pretty much redone JavaScript and JQuery videos several times each because it is rather daunting.

The best feeling has been coming from HTML, CSS, JavaScript...to ruby has been that the concepts are so much easier to understand because I studied JavaScript for so long. It feels kind of like a bit of reward for the effort. Though even in these courses, there are things that I find confusing and go searching for more info online to help make sense. But, the similarities are definitely there.

Regardless, I would just keep doing your best, when there are things you have a harder time with, just come back to them at a different time and go thru it again. I like to read all the questions because it helps further concepts and might add to what isn't explained. In doing that, I have seen in various courses people discussing exactly what you are talking about which just further indicates you are not alone.

I have been feeling the same way. I've gotten through HTML, CSS, and now learning Javascript and had been feeling like "What do I do with a blank page? I don't know where to start?"

This article made me feel better though: http://lifehacker.com/why-learning-to-code-is-so-hard-and-what-you-can-do-ab-1685229278. Basically it says that there's a huge gulf in confidence between the beginner tutorials and the next step of actually making things.

That's where I am at now, and I kinda had to push through it and just start fumbling around making small projects. If it helps any, I took the Frameworks course here and learned Bootstrap. It gave me a starting point for making a website with some structure that was less intimidating than starting with a blank page. That might be something to look into. My friend who's a developer says also it helps to think of small projects that you are interested in, like things related to hobbies or friends. I made a basic static one page website for my husband's guitar lesson shop. Or find a website you like and see if you can try to copy it for practice. This was all advice that helped me so maybe it will help you too.