I came back after a 7 year break at the end of BFA and didn’t really pvp until Sl released. There’s a lot going on right now, but early in any Xpac (If i remember right) it was always crazy kind of. You’ll face some high geared players, but in the end focus on what you can control, how you got killed (and don’t just say well he globaled me, even though sometimes it could be true). Typically you over lapped Defensives, or missed a defensive. The biggest thing I had to work with is my UI. I really had go back to the drawing board on how to learn what addons I needed and what is good information.
I recommend GladiusEx, Omni Bar, Omni CC, Arena Team Tracker (ATT), and Weak Auras. With WeakAuras look for any good packages you can use that will help awareness.
learn other classes spells (burst spells, defensive spells, and cc spells), along with what they do, and thier spell Icon (this plays into Omni bar/omni cc and weak auras).
Yes there is a gear disparity right now, but taking time to learn what went wrong over saying “well they had better gear, lets bang our heads into another wall” isn’t going to help you.
I will say If you find you have to rework your macros, keybinds, or UI. your CR will take a bit of dump, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Check out this thread as it’s really well done, and commented on (IMO) How to actually “git gud”