[sacrosanct]

> I've been using Gmail forever, but trust Google less and less given their stance on privacy

You can have the best of both worlds and have both a self-hosted option with custom domain alongside a Gmail account.

One caveat to custom domains is they can be reclaimed after you die / get incarcerated / go into a coma.

With a Gmail account protected with MFA nobody gets in except you, and it's locked away forever even after you're unable to access it due to unforeseen circumstances.

As for Google and privacy: the trick is to limit the scope of what they can collect. Don't surf whilst logged into a Google account, don't setup Youtube channels, don't use Android, use iOS instead or even better, GrapheneOS. Use DuckDuckGo for search, etc