Then maybe start by hosting things you don’t really need. Host a single media file, but so so with every single service you can think of. Can you access the file internally? Externally? On browser? Dedicated app? Via SSH? With a VPN? Did you host your own VPN?

You just need to learn to approach practical problems that are common, and then adapt what you learned to your other needs. These are how most of us have grown and learned.

pretty basic

This spec blows my current gaming PC out of the water, let alone my homelab which is a 2015 Intel NUC running headless Linux and Docker.

This is either a shitpost or you have way too much disposable income.