To be clear, I'm not looking to avoid them personally - I'm just curious what goes into playing without using bar chords. My guitar is set up well and I can play them just fine - or at least as poorly as open chords.
To the OP, the setup advice is key. Prior to having a good setup, I would tune down a step and capo at the 2nd fret to make bar chords playable. There are a few tutorial videos on YouTube that can give you technique help. I found a couple of songs that could be played with all (or mostly) bar chords and just stuck with it.
Good luck!