It’s quite tiring how often they change this. Gmail is a horrible, cluttered, and slow UI. I have started migration to my own mail server with opensmtpd, dovecote, mutt and Rainloop for web mail.
If the major concern is the UI, not the Gmail server, using another email client (desktop email client) is an easier solution. There is a big gap between using another client and setting up a new email server altogether.
An alternative may be also paying another email provider, and probably setting up your own domain name for it, for easier migration eventually.
Did this exact thing 13 (wow! Time flies) years ago and never looked back!
You have to put in the hours but you know that you run that stuff!
Even after four major migrations (roughly one weekend every 3 years) and all the bullying from the big hosts to accept your mail I still wouldn’t change my mind!
An alternative may be also paying another email provider, and probably setting up your own domain name for it, for easier migration eventually.