How do people genuinely configure "from the ground up" linux setups?

A bit of a rant..

I swear, its a nightmare. I mean I tried it for myself installing void linux and getting a usable experience with mangowc. And only after spending a full day I couldn't even figure out how do get a menu to come up on OBS to let me pick a different window to record. Is that even possible with xdg-desktop-portal-wlr? Although I am really adoring how lightweight the "from the ground up" configuration can be. I mean I was unbelievably shocked to find out that i havent charged my laptop in 8 hours of use and still see it be at 30 percent. Its an improvement almost three fold.

But gosh if only it were simpler. I dont know what I need to have things just work, and I question why things that used to work just dont work anymore. All these programs just hide from you and its an endless cat and mouse chase with my search engine that still barely points me in the right direction. Its super hard to find resources that cover these aspects of linux, and it sucks because this is also the best part about linux. To be able to optimize to your heart and souls content.

I envy people who are able to figure this out and create amazing setups, but it also feels incredibly dirty to use someone elses configuration. Its why I havent even brought myself to daily drive quickshell configures, even though they are probably the closest thing you can get to a desktop environment. In more ways than one. (they eat resources like candy). Theres a joy in using something you created yourself.

I love mangowc but im not sure if i can get the experience that i truly want from it if cracks start to show right from the get go. I was wondering if there are other fast and light window managers that at least have more support for noobs like me. Would hyprland work out long term if i strip it clean? I dont really care about animations as long as things are snappy. What about niri? Ive heard good things about it too and it even uses gnomes desktop portal, which should have more compatibility right? Should i just use arch because voids init system is unfamiliar and usually undocumented when it comes to usage in software? There are way too many options, and paths, which both have issues in their own ways. Waybar or eww? Dunst or mako? Fuzzel or wofi? systemd or runit? What am i missing? I dont even know! I have lost the point.

I just wished it could have been easier to make something i can call my own. I made it a habit to install gnome with every linux installation because I was scared of what time i would lose just trying to put the pieces together all by myself. I took for granted how many things a desktop environment just does for your system that you can pack up and take with you anywhere. Anyway, i have now lost that time and i now know how inconvenient it can be when you just want to get your stuff done and everything is half baked.