Hi Ryan,
as mattacuk stated everything is the correct answer. I myself played almost 7 years without a metronome and then I switched Guitar Teachers where I was forced to play with a metronome. The assimilation process was hard and for somebody playing good without and having had success in school suddenyly feeling as the complete noob starting at 0 was hard. Today some 8 years later I wouldn't do without. and it helps a lot!!
What helped me assimilate is instead of rushing into playing to the metronome to sort of "meditate" with it.
I'd start the metronome at 100 - 120 bpm and imagine 4/4 melodies, riffs and/or drum beats. At the beginning you'd be first thinking about 8 and 16 straightforward melodies or only hits and in your mind you move them around.
In general it is good to sometimes think before playing. Imagine what you are going to play and how it should sound and when a note hits the beat of the metronome.
Take a riff you like and mark the notes that will hit with the metronome beat.
Set the metronome at a comfortable speed for 16th notes and play schales up and down using shapes in 3 (e.g. C-majore playing, C-D-E, D-E-F, E-F-G etc...) You will notice how the down beat moves withing the 3 shapes from being on the 1st, then 2nd, 3rd to none and back to first.
Once you get things like this easily going the metronome will become fun and you will start experimenting more with syncopations than before ;-)
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