It’d be fun to talk shop with the fast code in slow languages folks. I do that for a living. I remember three ways, but I’m sure there’s more:

• “Just use a better data structure”
• “My language is a DSL for a faster language” (Polars, Numpy, etc)
• “My compiler is surprisingly good if I’m careful” (Julia, JVM, etc)

I don’t think you have to change. But if you want a new hobby, try Arch. I got it just the way I like it years ago and haven’t had to change anything. I picked Arch because I always ended up on their wiki anyway.