Since summer is coming up i'm just trying to ram through as many autos as possible till autumn with plants bred to work well with this climate. Check for your climate and then you can narrow down go-to's. Either resistant to cold or hot, fungal resistance etc. There's really no easy plant, it's about how you treat it that makes it simple or hard. Best you can get is photoperiods being more forgiving than autos.
Best advice is proper research. Look through the forum, look up growers on youtube and try to understand the why behind what you do with your ladies.

Choose your patch where the sun hits it.
-Good sun exposure.
-Good Soil is important.
-Good genetics.
-don’t overwater (the plants need a dry cycle too).
-recognize the difference between males and females.

genieral said:

Are there any go-to strains you would recommend for beginners, whether for relaxing, sleep, focus, or just a light buzz without going overboard?

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Grow photoperiodic plants.

We've liked every strain we've grown, but there are some we've decided to grow many times. White Widow is nice. So is Amnesia Haze. We like Royal Medic from Royal Queen Seeds for pain relief. We mostly like to try different strains for the variety.

genieral said:

I am also curious about different ways to consume – do you prefer smoking, vaping, edibles, or something else, and why?

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We vape and make tinctures. We haven't smoked once since we discovered vaping. It's so much better for the lungs.

genieral said:

If you grow, any simple starter tips or things you wish you knew before your first grow would be super helpful too.

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Choose a growing style and stick with it until you're good at it.

Keep in mind these plants are growing, adapting and living things that evolved on the same planet we humans did.

I think understanding the stages of plant growth was important to me. That means they have very different needs during different parts their lives.