Below is a list of software I've found pleasant to use and work with.

aerc: Much simpler to setup than other mail clients, pretty much just works.

Alpine Linux: Small and simple operating system. Most users should create a
script similar to what's found at /usr/sbin/setup-desktop, tailored to their
own needs.

Himitsu: Fairly simple password/secret manager. I had a good run with
Bitwarden, but have been in the process of moving everything over to Himitsu.
Despite how it might seem, it's supposedly safe to commit your Himitsu store to
a private git repository. The big downside is it doesn't seem to be available
on macOS or Windows. I use macOS for work, unfortunately, though I probably
shouldn't be mixing work and personal things together anyway.

labwc: Simple floating window manager. I keep window decorations turned off.

tmux: The majority of my computing is spent in a terminal emulator, so tmux
just makes sense. I could use a tiling window manager, but I've grown to prefer
tmux.

w3m: Great web browser. I use it daily for browsing the web, including gopher.