Anything self custody requires discipline.
But at the very least with hardware wallet it won't be too much hassle, some of the hardware wallets provider also sell a bundled package with steel plate to store your seed phrase where you can store it elsewhere.
The solution is already there and as more and more people become experienced with self custody, we'll see the case where people losing their key just because they don't back up become significantly less.
It thus requires discipline.
Been wise is you considering the optimal way of keeping your Bitcoin safe, since the journey you are about to begin will take years, it's wise to go the best possible way and that to me is buying a hardware wallet.
Many won't accept this because they want the cheapest way possible which is considered free, but free crypto wallets are software based and mostly not always secured like hardware wallet even when they are non custodial.
If I knew what I know now in 2017 some mistakes would have been avoided, but situations of things was too hard that hardware wallet became impossible at the time.