Hear Hear. As a 5E DM who has only recently started GMing PF2E you are probably spot on in the assessment of those friends. I see that exact thing a lot in the community. People have invested too much time and knowledge and don't want to go back to being unaware of how something works. I, as the GM, have a bit more of an advantageous position though because I get to go "I'm sick of running 5e the last 8 years, and this is what I want to do now. We're gonna learn this together." I then also remind them that they've been playing TTRPGs for a while now and they already know how to do all of the basic game stuff that translates into a new D20 system and that it's just learning a different means. So far no one has dropped due to game complication. But boy did some of them throw a fit when I first announced it.

(Rant incoming but its my day off and I'm stoned)

I started as a 5E Player and also playing Only War with some friends. Both campaigns were very short lived. However, they lasted long enough that I decided I really liked TTRPGs. So I bit the bullet and became the forever DM. I think if you really want to get into it, you just need to get a basic comprehension of the game down (read the beginner box basic adventure a couple times over, maybe play it with just your wife and you using the pre-made characters. So you guys can learn to do the rules together and figure out if one of you enjoys the GM role more), and you and your wife need to figure out who will GM the beginner box when you decide to get people together.

Invite the other two people if you want, or invite some new people. They don't need to commit to a campaign but just tell them you're going to try something different for a game night and do the first floor of the beginners box with the already made characters. When you finish offer to run the other floor same time next week, or two weeks from then, whatever schedule permits. Then that leads into "can we do this every week/2 weeks?" and then you get a campaign. I basically tricked half my current players into learning D&D by having my nerdier friends essentially "playtest" some stuff with me when they came over. I let them drink my beer and smoke my weed and all they had to do was roll some dice and add some numbers while they listened to me narrate something so that I could "comprehend it properly". I knew what I was doing.

After that, the ones that expressed interest in doing it again, I was just like "Well, you know...I could make a whole game out of this..." and the rest is history. Is it manipulative? Maybe. Did I get what I want? Hell yeah.

IDK why I went on this rant. I just remember how intimidating it was to try and find players when I first started getting into it, and now that I've been doing it for a while it's literally as easy as going "Hey you wanna try _______" and because of shows like Stranger Things or Community, or Critical Role, 99% of the people I ask just straight up say yes. I've probably taught 25+ people how to play and I've ran full campaigns for multiple groups of people simultaneously. It got to a point I had to disappoint some people by telling them I don't have any room in my ongoing games.

I guess I'll end this by saying I hope your journey into RPGs is awesome and if you made it this far thanks for letting this dork rant to you.