As someone whose only other language was very beginner-level Python before learning Rust, the part about not treating the borrow checker as an adversary, but as a companion, mirrors the point at which I began rapidly improving.

I like to say that the Rust compiler rules are like having a senior engineer over your shoulders to help you avoid writing (certain kinds of) bad code.

There are still times when the borrow checker becomes my adversary (like needing to share data in threads), and it is painful, but they become less frequent over time.