I would agree with your last sentence...
Although, I'd have to say the same thing about myself too.
One of the most important thing I ever learned in photography was to watch what is happening at the edges of the frame; items that run out of the frame and items that are close to the edge and do not run out. These can and do introduce distracting elements into the image.
Bright areas and areas of high contrast are definitely something that should be avoided because they draw the viewer's eye away from the subject and out of the frame.
For the type of photography you often do (nature), I was taught to run my eye around the edges of the viewfinder and if I see this type of issue, to recompose. That is a lot easier than trying to fix the issue in PP.
In this shot, there are two framing issues I would have tried to avoid. The light coloured rock is one of the and the other is the bright leaf just above it. Both are distracting elements.