The answer may be a bit ironic. My perception is you may be somewhat of a natural bass player, based on your description. In other words the technical aspects of playing the bass come fairly easy to you. The problem is that is if you are only essentially copying the music that you are really more of a technician than a musician. In order to feel like a musician, maybe you need to actually study music instead of focusing on bass technique.
I think the most important things for you to study are music theory and ear training. Music majors would also study music history as that gives them context for understand why things are done a certain way. Don't underestimate the value of learning a lot of stuff that you think you have absolutely no interest in, because it all fits together and will benefit you in the end.
I am a retired pro and most accomplished musicians would probably consider me a semi-literate hack. The reason is because I am a generalist rather than a specialist, but I found a niche were I could be extremely successful and had a great career. I didn't have the desire or drive to be an orchestral section bass player, headline artist, or a bar musician, but turns out I was pretty uniquely qualified to be a military musician. But I was also extremely lucky to get my foot in the door because I was only able to complete music theory 101-201 before I joined the military. I was way underqualified when I was hired. Most of my peers had a Bachelor of Science degree, many had a Master and some even had a Doctorate in Music.
The knowledge I gained in those three semesters of music classes gave me a great foundation to build upon. I essentially taught myself to read and interpret chord notation while I was taking classical theory. One of the young guitar players on staff mentored me and would jam with me after hours once a week.
After third semester I had to drop out and get a job. I felt my best option was to join the military, I didn't even know they had a full-time band program, but it would not have mattered as I was not ready yet. I continued self study for about 5 years before I auditioned. I kept practicing and wound up playing in backup band for the base talent contest at my first assignment that led to the formation of a cover band that played at the Enlisted Club and various other events on base.
My second assignment was to a base that had a military band. I bought a really crappy upright bass and started working my chops back up. The audition was mainly on bass guitar in a cover band, but I believe my abilities on upright, and my ability to read chord changes out of the Real Book are what got me the job, even though they said my intonation was pretty bad.
Within six weeks I was at my third assignment and I spent the rest of my career in the band. I walked into the organization with my crappy upright bass on my shoulders and they were elated. They had planned to put me in a cover band, but needed an upright player in the concert band and big band. I had to work really hard to get up to speed, but I had a lot of help. It would not have been possible without a background in music theory.
