Just as a general statement, find something you love, then find an area you love! Since history is so holistic, you can really study... anything! There are professors who have Computer Science degrees along with their history PhD, and study that relevant field. Double majoring in history (or any liberal arts degree) is usually a popular move. So ask yourself, whats something specific you like? For an example think of it like this:

Do I like studying war? Yes ---> What about war (logistics? combat? military science?)? ----> What period of war (ancient? medieval? pre-modern/modern?)? -----> What region/nation of study (USA, China, Russia, Germany, etc?)? The more specific you can get, the better.

You want to start broadly, and work your way down. War is a great historical subject because there's a lot of writing about it, among others. From there, the hardest part initially is actually figuring out which historians are the prominent figures of what you want to study. This can be a bit challenging, because not all professors write for the general public (popular history). You may find a great author and say "excellent, I finally got this sweet ass book." But once you start reading it you may say "Holy shit this is boring as hell, and confusing." Most likely because the author's intended audience is for fellow professors, graduate students, or perhaps higher-level undergraduate classes for majors. For example, in my field, you would do well to start with Rana Mitter's Modern China: A Very Brief Introduction. That's the money right there. Not only is it meant for a beginner audience, but it also encompasses a broad array of topics that it sources. And hey, check it out, someone already added it to the booklist ;). I strongly recommend our subreddit's booklist. Not only is it organized by region, nation, and then subject, but its also organized by just how esoteric it is.

I should quickly note about this section that you should be careful about just googling books on popular subjects. For example, a google search on "Book about world war 2" quickly brings up a giant amount of resources, some of which aren't really all that reliable. In this case, its best to use Google Scholar, which will link resources to you that are peer-reviewed and academically approved.

From there, once you find good resources, you can skip to the bibliography, and that will provide you with a massive amount of literature on the subject. Some of it may be outdated, but thats not always a bad thing!

If you have any ideas of what period and region you're interested in, go ahead and jot it down and I'll see if I or anyone else can help you out.

if you are a fan of fiction literature, i'd say pick an easy to read piece of work by a famous author from whatever time period or region youre interested in! for example, im very partial to Greek, Norse and some Egyptian mythology. but, modern fiction writers who stick close to reality also work. for historically correct fiction of the italian renaissance i always turn to Sarah Dunant, a writer from this century.

but if you prefer only nonfiction, theres easy to find works that connect to the elements you listed above. you can read biographies and histories of heroine figures like Joan of Arc, who im very partial to. or of small but intense and complex time periods- i have a great book on Russia when still ruled by czars. from there, you can expand based on what you like. you can read about something broad as wars and empires of a certain region or time period, or something as specific of a single historical, impactful figure.

i feel as though this comment didnt make sense the way i intended? but in any case i hope it helps.

i wish you much luck on finding your niche(s) in history!