My digital camera is DNG so I get the Raw and an automatically generated JPEG from that (which I rarely use). It depends, sometimes I just open photos in Photoshop and go, okay, looks good... I'll print a 4x6 and if it prints well that's it. Otherwise I may adjust contrast, brightness, or whatever it needs. My post processing is minimal.
I've been a photographer for a long time and learned how to meter a scene/subject and get a proper exposure. Then whether it's digital or in a 'wet' darkroom (using chemistry) I don't have a lot to do most of the time.
What's similar is if I got proper exposures I'll have minimal post work to do. But if I'd want to play with my dodgette set on a photo being exposed under the enlarger I could; if I wanted to play with a photo in Photoshop and max out settings til it looks freaky, I can. But I wouldn't want to do that with every photo that I want to use or I'd never get done!
Make copies to experiment with so you don't ruin your original. Maybe pick one setting to start with and just play around and see what it does. You don't have to save it all, or any of it (or you could save some labeled so you remember what you did), just play til you start getting the hang of it. I'm a longtime film photographer, and if I managed to figure out digital editing... it's a matter of trying and practicing and learning. But maybe don't read so much that you've maxed out your brain! lol before you try it out so you can see what you read about. You can always refer back to your reading and it might make more sense once you've done some.
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