I’ve avoided ballasting points since the debacle when I was 13 - I saved weeks of pocket money for that point (a left-hand Peco settrack; I can picture it now) only to ruin it nearly as soon as I’d laid it. I couldn’t tell anyone so my one siding ended up a bit of a space invader.
Because of this fear I started ballasting from the edges of this layout. With an intention of building up my skills and confidence by ballasting some straight pieces of track before tackling the points.