@Becky Choosing a programming language often depends on the target use. Will it be a Command-Line Interface tool? A Graphical User Interface? A web page? A program on a controller circuit (Arduino, etc...)?
I think I want the to-do program to have a gui as I'm still not great at using a command line.... probably run on a "standard" desktop computer, if such a thing exists.... computers are weird but I've relied on @silverwizard a lot and I'm trying to think outside that while also learning from him
@Becky In the programming world, unfortunately there's no such thing as a standard desktop computer. So much so that the current most popular way of writing "portable" programs is to embed an entire web browser within the program.
@Becky So, first target one specific system with one specific front end. This will greatly reduce the scope of the required learning.
I started learning programming with command line programs in C because of the low learning overhead. I was also taught COBOL for file manipulation and Java for Object-Oriented Programming. In parallel, I had SQL classes on an Oracle system, but no integration with a programming language until my final project after 2 years of full-time classes.
It was a long process and it started pretty small, so I think that's what you should do as well to make it palatable.
Starting from scratch today I'd probably suggest starting with JavaScript, as you can then use it on the web (and mobile with progressive web apps) maybe with VueJS, or on the command line with NodeJS, or to create GUIs with Electron. 🤔 It's not the best language to start learning with maybe (personally I have a preference for strongly typed languages), but it's pretty flexible, under very active development both in syntax and ecosystem.
From there, languages have affordances.