Yeah, well don't leave it alone. I have always been a chord banger so I can't help you. I can still play James Taylor songs, so there.
That's true, the strings seem tighter and harder to bend/fret on a lot of acoustics. One trick a lot of acoustic players use is to tune all your strings down a half step to loosen the strings a bit, can make it easier to play. My friend also went to a guitar tech at the local music store and they shaved the "nut" down a millimeter or 2 on his guitar to lower the string action to make it easier fret and play, which feels great on the fingers and you get less string buzz & muting from accidentally touching the strings you don't want to touch.
My first acoustic had really high strings/action and it was a nightmare to play, i was glad i didn't suck as bad as i thought haha.