Ironic, the most complicated thing for me to understand when I started writing rust was borrowing and lifetimes. The rest of the common features of Rust isn't too complicated to understand.

Understanding the concepts is not the issue with me (as of now). It is the hard to read syntax (my personal opinion!). It puts a lot strain on my mind. Same is the case with C++ with extreme use of STL. I have difficulty in reading that, although with clear mind, I will eventually get the code, it is not fun.

You’re free to use Rust that way if you prefer.

Same, I heavily prefer less symbols in my code. I think it might also relate to how I find it much harder to remember long formulas but than remembering the sentence describing the formula. If I could type for example `brw x` instead of `&x` I think I'd like it more - I guess I like it more Python-y?

You could use a macro :)

  macro brw($expr:expr) { &$expr }

And use it like 'brw!(x)' instead of '&x'.