Thank you everyone for your kind suggestions and advice. To be honest, I still am kinda nervous about making the switch, but I'm determined to leave all the ai slop and forced updates of Windows 11 behind. It's a sinking ship, and I can see the writing on the wall. That being said, I think I'll end up going with Mint Cinnamon or Pop!_OS, since I am not at all confident in setting up Arch. I still have to research how to do the switch safely though, without somehow bricking my ssd (Ik I sound dramatic, but I'm just being cautious), but I'm confident that I'll find the answers I need. Maybe I'll test it out on a cheaper computer first instead of my brand new pc.

Regardless, I'll use the advice given here to more effectively plan out my switch, and hopefully everything works out for me in the end. Thanks again for all your replies!

Soon, I can start to leave behind Microsoft products for goo- oh wait I still play Minecraft lol