I'd like to preface by saying I have no intent of invalidating you. However... It is a bit of a journey. If you are nerdy and like seeing how things come together, you will likely enjoy said journey, if you're someone who just wants things to work out of the box, the road might be a little bumpy...

I may have grown used to tinkering, but I'll admit I enjoy it, I am such a nerd. You shouldn't have to tinker, nor use the terminal nor know all the little details in your distribution, and as a long time linux user, who has found the value of the terminal (so much so I use the drop down version of it) it annoys me that most tutorials even mention it.

Lately, there's an incredible emphasis on FPS in games, rather than daily drivability or ease of use for newbies, and in my opinion it adds to the choice paralysis. And I'll say up front, Ubuntu, the once popular distro, shouldn't be suggested for newbies, because of some of their choices too. (Notably Snapd)

Ideally, the journey should start with something that works with your hardware, offers a decent software selection, But also leaves room for exploration should one want to. I'm a sucker for post installation first boot "wizards" that ask what software you'd like, and there aren't enough distros that do this.

I'll be honest, distro hopping is inevitable. You will eventually want to try something different, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it shouldn't be at the very beginning. But the solace is that, there is more than a single way to tackle any issue in Linux, and very often the simplest isn't the most obvious, nor the one mentioned in tutorials...

My journey way;

Ubuntu 9.04 > Xubuntu > Linux Mint Xfce > Linux Mint Cinnamon > KDE Neon > Manjaro KDE > Garuda Linux

And frankly, I still suggest Linux Mint. I dont think I personally know another that's a good entryway. It does provide what I assume, to be what most people need, and still offers plenty of ROM to grow.

Ideally Cinnamon, but if you want a lighter desktop, Xfce is decent and complete, and still more customizable than Gnome (without installing extensions)

Linux is definitely a rabithole, not gonna deny that, you'll find all sorts of people, but ideally, the journey is your own, there is no score for using "hard mode distros", just enjoy the ride at your pace, and don't be afraid of asking for help when you need it.