Yeah, the entire point is that he's unwilling to accept his responsibility as the Avatar, so he goes on these side adventures to goof off.
Plus, this serves the incredibly important function of giving the show an excuse to flesh out its world building.
I've gotten really into a niche Japanese media genre called Iyashikei, wherein there's barely, if any plot. The plot that's there has almost no tension. And the tension that is there is resolved immediately with minimal friction.
My favorite is Non Non Biyori, which is about a group of kids who live in the Japanese countryside. And they kinda just... Hang out. There's no overarching narrative, no lessons to learn. It's a gag comedy in some respects, but the humor is more sensible chuckle then gut-bustingly hilarious.
The entire point of this stuff is to slow down and chill out.
I Wanna see western show runners heads fucking explode, that there's media out here doing the exact opposite of what they think is "good writing.
Can't race towards the finish line, when there's no finish line to race to