Reading back, my comment sounds snarky, but I was genuinely trying to be helpful.

Like what pemptago was describing, instead of symlinking your directories to /home/username/username, you could simply update that file and achieve the same effect, but in a more “official” way that may prove more robust.

Are you aware of the ‘xdg-user-dirs-update’ command that allows you to edit the ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs config file?

Linux is great about providing that feeling of discovery. New tools, new processes, new paradigm… It’s the best way to breathe new life into an old piece of hardware.

If this is your first major step, congratulations! If you’re a regular, great job, keep it up; eventually you’ll be a grey beard with the rest of us.