Graphene sucks the life of android in my humble option.
What's not "fun" or lifeless about it? It's a phone. I use it exactly as I would a normal Pixel, with the exception of having the convenience of Google Wallet.
Everything is about security with anything else being second.
Would you rather it be all about fun/having life with everything else being second? That doesn't sound safe. And I'm still confused about you saying it having no life.
I will say what I do differently vs a normal Pixel, is I use the storage scopes and lock certain apps to certain folders as well as contact scopes to lock certain apps to only see certain people. I don't use my phone for work, but if I did, that would be a separate profile/user.
I'm holding out for the 10. The 8 added mirrored display (so you can mirror your screen on a monitor... I'd rather this come with the Pixel Tablet 2 and the Pixel Tablet skipped it form some reason) and MTE, which GrapheneOS says is the most significant addition to security since they've started the OS. If those come with the 10, not to mention the 10 is supposed to have Google's inhouse chip and not Samsung's...yep, I'm upgrading.