This. It's always what I try to encourage to all language learners. Being able to establish a thought in the target language and think like a native speaker is what makes learning languages amazing. When I write French or Italian essays for work related matters, I always think in the target language respectively, whereas when a person learns a language for the first time, they always strive to go back to the L1 (native tongue) in order to compare and contrast how one can translate. Once you can start thinking and acting in the L2 (target language), you find it much more rewarding.
It's also a question of fluency versus accuracy. Being fluent doesn't mean being native, and I think that's where some language learners struggle. I am glad to see you (at least from what I was reading in your post) understand that. You think better in another language, and this is one of the reasons I love language so much.