These are my stats for the first 3 levels. Peeking at your profile, you joined about three weeks ago. I’d say there is nothing strange or shameful about taking your time in the beginning because it quickly feels difficult and overwhelming when you’re new to kanji. 
As frustrating as it might be to see that number of pending lessons, there is no detriment to letting them sit there as long as you need. If you haven’t started to those lessons, no new ones are going to get piled on top, so it’s not like leaving them be for now will get you buried in them. But having a lot of items in Apprentice and Guru 1 does increase your review load, which can be a real grind when you’re not fully used to the slog just yet.
I think you’re doing the wise thing: letting the SRS work its magic by failing what you don’t know, and leaving lessons to one side until you know you have absorbed the past items decently.
I’d also advise to really look at the review summary screen after a review session. It can be that little extra boost that helps by looking at your failed items and mentally naming the reading and meaning.
If you feel like some of the items are becoming leeches (things you just can’t seem to remember no matter how many times you put them through the SRS) you can try the self-study script and the additional filters script. With those, you can, among other things, make your own little study quizzes that allow you to go over items outside of the SRS. You can put together a script that lets you practice leeches (items that you’ve failed n times), or for example a quiz that grills you on the items you got wrong on your most recent review session.
And the last part of my overly lengthy diatribe: be patient with yourself. 
You’re putting your brain through a mental work-out. Like lifting weights, it takes time to build things up, little by little. But if you keep at it, it’ll become easier to learn kanji.
That’s the spirit! 
Best of luck!