Mary... I have no idea where you are but let me tell you I am happy to slot in anywhere you want me (sorry if that sounds dodgy
).
But, as the Americans say, when god made the sky he made lots and lots of it, and the general idea in flying is to make that work in one's favour!
So, in controlled airspace, as the old joke goes, ATC squeeze everybody into a narrow corridor and then try to earn their £90k (£150k in Spain) keeping them separated.
Out of controlled airspace, it's a free for all, and the dumbest thing has to be the OHJ where several planes are orbiting at the same height, 2/3 of them can't see the other 2/3, probably at different speeds, and the circle diameter is about the length of the runway.
To be fair, midair data doesn't indicate a problem with the OHJ but midair data is (thankfully) too thin to mean much anyway - except one should fly above 2000ft.
Your CFI must be a very scary person.