I don't know if you've tried this, but consider using caps lock for ctrl (the other tiny harder to reach key) and jk for esc. The home row reachability of jk is

I don't know if you've tried this, but consider using caps lock for ctrl (the other tiny harder to reach key) and jk for esc. The home row reachability of jk is actually really nice and having ctrl remapped seals the deal for me.