[rpod]

I made the jump from vim to emacs without relying on evil or spacemacs, working my way through the built-in tutorial (C-h t) and doing my own customization from the bottom up. Surprisingly, you don't need that much customization to get productive in emacs, so it's better to find out for yourself what you need.

The mnemonics of the emacs keybindings are part of what makes it so special, so it didn't make much sense to me to use evil-mode. Spacemacs is another layer of abstraction which makes it easier to get started, but ultimately hinders your customizability and understanding of the text editor you are using.

I know you specifically asked for tips that apart from perseverance, but I believe this is the reason I stuck with it for the past 2 years. But beware: mastering emacs is a lifelong hobby, where you sometimes sacrifice short-term productivity for long-term happiness.

[emidln]

> but ultimately hinders your customizability and understanding of the text editor you are using.

[Citation Needed] Spacemacs is just elisp. It is documented and you can explore its source the same as anything else in emacs. `SPC h d` + `which-key` is a godsend for learning and understanding what emacs offers.