I've found the key is to just do small changes and let them build over time. For instance, I recently moved to i3, and it was hard to adjust at first, but now I'm used to it, I'm a bit more familiar to starting changing config to add my own buttons. That said, and like you, I'll be sticking to defaults as much as I can, but I deal with specific pain points when they come up, rather than do the whole thing up front.