Two great lenses so no worries there. My best results in very dynamic lighting situations have come from bracketed exposures (9 shot bracketing is easy with the X-T2, but I don't always merge all 9 images, sometimes just a selection). I'm yet to play with the focus stacking of the latest firmware in the wild to see if that can further improve the image (not that I'm unhappy with what I get).
This is an example of a 9 bracketed image, shooting straight into the sun (not a foliage example!!)
The 'modern way' of viewing images on a large monitor often shows up flaws/effects/etc that we wouldn't see if the image was printed and we looked at it from a reasonable viewing distance (I think that is what Nigel Danson is saying through his video)
I think your idea of just enjoying the camera is a good one, it may yet surprise you

(hope your back gets better soon)