Playing the piano

Learning to play an instrument as an adult is hard. As an adult learner, i feel i get caught in minor snags and areas of confusion that prevent me from completing a piece fluently. The process of learning a piece is a immensely rewarding one but at the same time it is an arduous task and one that requires months of dedicated practice and effort. However the pace of my life varies and while there are weeks where i find myself devoting a lot of time to practicing piano, there are times when I'm rushed off my feet and unable to concentrate for ten minutes at a time.This bothers me as i love playing the piano and want to practice with much more discipline and consistency.
Also I find that i am increasingly tending to avoid areas of difficulty such as sight reading of very high and low notes and rhythms that i find difficult to grasp. instead I work on pieces and areas that i am already confident about. This does not help in the long run.
I think part of the problem is that i play for self fulfilment rather than for any other purpose. I tend not to play in front of anyone because i find that nervousness gets in the way. If there was some pressure that would propel me to work on the weak areas , pressure such as playing for a small public audience i may work harder to fix the parts that need fixing. Working on the same pieces over and over boosts my knowledge of these pieces but does not expand my repetoire.
Maybe if i can change my attitude towards the piano and make it a priority rather than something i do when i have time my piano playing would improve significantly.
Are there any adult learners out there who can advise me on what tips and techniques for practice help them?

How things change

I'm back and now its 2015! wow how time has flown.  so much has changed in a good way! I just celebrated my 36th birthday.  I think this has been the first birthday in the last few years where i have not been recovering from a miscarriage. The last two birthdays were difficult for this reason and i was unable to accept moving on to another year. the panic , the terror and the pain of pregnancy loss was difficult to manage emotionally. This year  I felt light hearted, relaxed and was able to enjoy the day with family and friends .
Back to the change, i can only attribute the changes i have gone through to a more positive frame of mind. Somehow the angst and bitterness i had felt for the last few years has melted away and I no longer feel defensive and angry at life, i feel purely grateful, grateful for the years I have lived, the wonderful family i have, my beautiful little girl who is now eight years old, crazy, vibrant and fun, grateful for new friends made and people who care.  I feel grateful for music, books, my pets, grateful for a healthy mind and body and beyond all grateful to be me. For the first time i feel that i am happy to be myself.
So this time I'm back with a renewed determination to blog regularly. Lets see how this goes!