(Which in a way it feels like I did by doing this even if my hand was forced) but it's another completely for my country to say "just smile, nod, and ignore it until it's your turn and trust me with the way you think little girl it will be your turn very soon 😉"

It depends on the game really. If it's something that I'm missing critical lore or task information on I am likely to restart, but if there are clear tasks still in my "journal" then I will usually pick up where I left off.

I know I'm not being complacent, but I do feel like I'm only doing the bare minimum or able to do the bare minimum of staying informed and passing along information.

Mostly what I do is a lot of "running my mouth" like I consistently verbally call out what is happening, but where I am locally it doesn't do much other than make me look like the dude from It's always sunny