I'm curious sometimes what would have happened had I not learned these skills; coding concepts apply to so many things in life, and help solve many problems in pragmatic and efficient ways.
This is spot on. Since teaching myself to become a programmer I've also gotten much better as a musician, as a mechanic, as an amateur woodworker and as as learner of Spanish. The combination of dealing with logic, language and abstraction stimulates the brain across all endeavors.