Unfortunately I doubt myself more often than I have faith in myself.

... and I'm going to try and post more. I mean, I sat here and custom built a site how I wanted it, may as well use it, right?

Yes, I know I say that every time I don't post for a year, then make two posts and vanish again, but this time I mean it.

Maybe.

I reached another mileage milestone the other day... but this one took some planning.

It really depends on how keen you are to learn and how quickly you pick things up. There's certain things you need to understand (variables, data types, functions, conditions, control structures, classes)... once you understand the basics it's really just a case of applying it to different and now advanced situations. It's a bit like playing with Lego. It doesn't take long to understand how to use it and build small things, you just need more practice and experience to be able to build bigger more advanced stuff, but it's all done using the same bricks. PHP is the bricks, what you can build with it will improve over time. I started properly when I was 16 and when I was 18 I had a job using PHP, by 19 I was working as a junior at a top local agency. Put the work in and you'll be fine.