Just to be that person, but old Monk was reliant on you looking at UI elements as well, those being your buff bar and the enemy debuffs.

Now, without knowing how long you have played old Monk for, for someone like me who has played it pretty much close to 2.0 launch (second job I levelled to 50), I have over 10 years of keeping track of things via the above. Could it just be that, since you aren't used to looking at your hotbars, or a different UI element, it is just throwing you off? Fundamentally, it is the same concept, just displayed differently.