You don't have to do FMQ to be a good quilter. I don't find FMQ that relaxing, but I find it easier than straight line quilting and really enjoyable. If your machine isn't good to FMQ and you are having problems, it can be very stressful. You might consider taking an FMQ class and letting the teacher help you. You also might consider doing some trouble shooting on your machine to find out why you are having so many problems with it when doing FMQ.
I just finished doing FMQ (loop de loops) on a 65 x 96 quilt. While I wouldn't call it relaxing, it wasn't stressful once I got the bugs worked about between my machine and the thread I was using. It just took a bit of cleaning and oiling, replacing the needle and some tension adjustment. Then everything was fine and I was on my way to finishing it.