Yessss! It’s not just me 
And, well, I’ve learned SO much since I shared that original post you replied to. Three things in particular for anyone who has time…
The first thing I learned was what OS I wanted. Talking with folks in the JP Telegram group helped me narrow it down. Since I don’t need my phone to do anything other than text, call, and Telegram I went with what I hear tell is the most private: GrapheneOS. Then I decided which phone from there because Graphene only works on certain phones according to the website.
The second thing I learned was when I hit a bump with that phone I mentioned in my original post. I discovered that it’s bootloader was locked and the OEM was grayed out, which means you can’t put a different OS on it. I’ve heard that you still can sometimes somehow unlock the OEM, but apparently it’s super hard. So, I returned that phone (thankfully I could return it!) and started trying to find a phone that has an unlocked bootloader.
(Side note: If you don’t know the difference between carrier unlocked and an unlocked bootloader, be sure to read this short post: Unlockable Bootloader List)
I decided to start asking phone sellers if the phone’s bootloader was locked. BackMarket doesn’t have a way to contact sellers before a purchase. Swappa does, but I didn’t want to pay with PayPal (which is their only payment method). So, after talking to some people in the JP Telegram channel I found that several of them had bought Pixel phones with GrapheneOS or CalyxOS already on them from sellers on eBay. That sounded great, so that’s what I ended up doing. Not only did that let me know for sure that it has an unlocked bootloader, but I didn’t have to put an OS on it myself. There is so much that can go wrong during that process, which brings me to the third thing I learned…
Not only do folks like you and I like such things to have detailed instructions, but it’s actually very important. In fact, I’ve been reading a lot from @Cnturion and @Slamminbones that before you even start to put a different OS on a phone, you need to read and learn as much as you can about it.
That was a lot of words! but all that to say, agreed re: detailed instructions… and maybe my story will help you on your journey. Take everything I’ve said here with a grain of salt and your own research too as I’m still VERY much learning. And still learning to communicate it properly tech-wise as well. 