The way forward is to use Python 3. That's been the way forward since it was announced that 2.7 would be the last version, and that everything after it would just be bugfixes. The way forward became even more clearly defined when the date was set for even those to stop.

I learned Python from Python 3, and it hasn't hindered me at all, even from going back and working on Python 2 code bases, or cross compatible code bases. It's a perspective that's made me just how aware of how awful Python 2 is in comparison.

Python 2 is going to exist for a long time in a lot of places. But it's a dead end for improvements. It's a dead end for innovation. It's a dead end for bug fixes and security fixes. Would you even consider telling someone to go learn any other language that is 3 years away from even end of life support having the plug pulled? You wouldn't. Why would you do the same for Python 2?