Startet using Linux in 1999. Then I did a lot of distro hopping:
Redhat
Suse Linux
Gentoo
Sabayon Linux
Debian
Kdenlive
Arch
Ubuntu Studio
Fedora
Fedora Silverblue
since 2017 NixOS
NixOS feels very contemporary and will stay a while. It is very advanced and usable in many diverse environments.
In the past I did learn a lot installing and maintaining Debian and Arch – which has a great community.
Foot is the fastest and I use it as default. Second is Kitty because it uses GPU acceleration.