I would not do mods your first play-through. However, what I would recommend, is just doing whatever it is you feel like doing when you play. See a cave you want to walk into? Do it. Did you get assigned a new quest that looks more interesting than the one you’re doing? Hop on it. Don’t let certain storylines drag you down if you don’t enjoy them.
I have a few, Skyrim is my biggest one. I basically maladaptive daydream Skyrim. If I'm feeling bad I play through it in my head. Some others are No Mans Sky, Vampire Survivors, and generally pixel games are always really comforting to me. I also like to go back and play dragon fable sometimes when I need some nostalgia.