i've used arch as a daily driver on my laptop for maybe a year now. i just update when i remember to without reading anything and nothing important has ever broken afaik. use AUR constantly and everything.
idk, it just works for me. i have now been inspired to subscribe to the mailing list
one thing that helped me (and still does) is ignoring labels and thinking about what you want to do. like, what pronouns do you want, how do you want to dress, what do you want to be called. i found it easier to think about that and instead using that as a guide to finding a label that fits (or skipping the label entirely)
ahhh that was the worst part of my top surgery recovery. no pain but the itching was awful. it's amazing when it stops though, kinda like when you can finally breathe through your nose after a cold