This has been one of the barriers to adopting Linux full-time for me too. The depth of the customization is great, but the fact that it's possible means that I'm endlessly twiddling trying to get things "just right", and from there it's a constant battle to keep it that way.
Part of this might have to do with how the sorts of tiling WM setups that Linux aficionados seem to love aren't compatible with me at all, and more traditional minimalist setups (e.g. OpenBox+tint2 or whatever the modern equivalents to those are) left too many unfilled or badly filled holes, which drives me to the bigger DEs, which are opinionated in ways that don't necessarily align with me which drives the twiddling.
The only way I can see this changing is if I somehow become able to pay the bills without working and pour myself into developing my own DE and essentially make the twiddling my job (which I think I would actually love doing, but doesn't seem particularly realistic).
Part of this might have to do with how the sorts of tiling WM setups that Linux aficionados seem to love aren't compatible with me at all, and more traditional minimalist setups (e.g. OpenBox+tint2 or whatever the modern equivalents to those are) left too many unfilled or badly filled holes, which drives me to the bigger DEs, which are opinionated in ways that don't necessarily align with me which drives the twiddling.
The only way I can see this changing is if I somehow become able to pay the bills without working and pour myself into developing my own DE and essentially make the twiddling my job (which I think I would actually love doing, but doesn't seem particularly realistic).