There are some musicians on YouTube that I watch regularly, and I remember finding a piano teacher specifically, who had a full playlist of piano lessons for beginners. His style was along the lines of what you describe: nothing strict or super rigid, and he showed a lot of practical examples and applications of the theory to keep things interesting.

> The other thing is, first and foremost, play for fun! Yeah, it's a slog to get through some of the theory and repetition in the beginning [...]

That's what I struggled with when I was attempting to learn. I felt like it required a bigger time investment than I could justify to myself, and with the slow progress I kind of just let it fall to the side. Which is weird, because I usually have no trouble pushing through learning a new skill if it's something I enjoy.

I'll definitely have to give it another shot, since I already have the instrument here. Trying out different instruments to see if one of them clicks also sounds like good advice, so thank you for that!