what giving up gives you, and where giving in takes you... I've had andI've been

I'm struggling with my photography. I know that I am a beginner, and I sure am learning a lot, but it's painful. I want to be good at this. I have trouble because I want to buy DSLR but I can't really afford one right now. I try to tell myself that a good photographer doesn't need a hi-tech camera. A good photographer should be able to take a good picture just based on perspective and composition. So if I learn to do that with my point and shoot, once I move to a DSLR my photos should be amazing. ?

But then I am going to have to learn everything about the lenses and basically start from scratch. Should I learn how to be a good photographer on an OK camera or on a good one? And of course it truly doesn't matter if anyone else enjoys my work or thinks it's "good" as long as I enjoy creating it. But it's nice to have some validation that you aren't just kidding yourself into thinking you have potential.

I guess what i am trying to say is that I am feeling discouraged. but I am refusing to give up.