This is one of my biggest regrets: learning to solve it at a young age (10) and not actually solving it, but rather learning an existing algorithm. I have had m

This is one of my biggest regrets: learning to solve it at a young age (10) and not actually solving it, but rather learning an existing algorithm. I have had much satisfaction as an adult in solving 4x4 and 5x5 cubes, but even that tends to be derivative of existing 3x3 solutions (though I did create some sequences myself and those proved easier to scale that traditional ones). Even then <spoiler alert>, I recall vividly the moment my 10 year old self understood the 3 dimensional nature of "a side", and how a side was not solved until the top row of the each of its neighbors was also correct. It was quite an intellectual thrill for a 10 year old to make that transition. These days I try to focus on block building rather than memorized sequences. It's a little more intellectually stimulating. If I do go the memorized sequence route, I try to string 2 such sequences together.