Are these pieces too advanced for me?

Most of the pieces I have been given to learn, I can actually play, after a fashion.  I am fortunate in that I get excellent advice about what is within my capabilities, and what I should put aside because it wouldn't turn out well.  Why, in that case, was I given a few pieces that didn't make it?  I'm not talking about the pieces that I didn't care to work on because they didn't appeal to me -  those will probably be lost surreptitiously if they haven't already found the trash can.   But there are others that I really would like to be able to play - I tried,  tried some more, and at some point gave up.  And there they sit giving me the evil eye.  What's going on here?  Did I just not work hard enough (or smart enough) on them? Was I supposed to get something out of them despite the fact that I never reached the point of actually being able to play them?   Or perhaps they should have pushed me a bit and I should have risen to the challenge but didn't?  (Ouch).   I'm not a natural at guitar, and being older means that my hands (and brain) take longer to adapt.  But I usually rise to a challenge if it's doable, so what was the point in butting up against these pieces that turned out to be beyond my ability?

I'm reminded a bit of my skiing history.  For a number of years I used to take a womens' ski camp every year with the same instructor.   I vividly remember standing at the top of a fairly threatening black run beset with choppy snow and moguls - the same challenging slope I had struggled with the previous year.  Then the instructor gave me a single piece of advice that turned the run into a cakewalk (relatively speaking)  - eureka!  "Why didn't she tell me that before?" I asked?  She looked at me, smiled, and said - "I did - you just weren't ready to use it last year."  I shook my head - I was drawing a complete blank.  But I did have the next best thing to instant replay.   I write down stuff because I know I will forget it in the year between one ski vacation and the next.  That night I checked my notes - and there it was in black and white.  Needless to say I had to admit the fact to the ski instructor the following day.  She was right - I just wasn't ready the previous year.

So perhaps that's the purpose of those abandoned pieces - unless I challenge myself to see if I'm ready, I won't know, and neither will my instructor.   It's just a matter of trying.  Speaking of which, maybe now it's time to have another shot at that Villa Lobos prelude...😉