I had multiple failed starts with (n)vim, always getting frustrated way before I had a usable setup, until I just used NvChad. It's basically a preconfigured version, with all the plugins, keybinds,... you could probably want.
It gave me something usable right out of the box. I continued tinkering with it for almost two years before moving on to my completely custom configuration.
IMO the people that say you should start with bare (n)vim in order to learn everything from the ground up are delusional. There's no reason you can't learn all that stuff after you've actually experienced how nice the entire thing can be.
This thread has taken me from not knowing who David Gerard is (or the tracing woodgrains person, for that matter), to realizing this is his instance.
Lmao, what a wild ride. This community is awesome.