Manual transmission is not a challenge. It quickly blurs into muscle memory and you don’t really notice it.
That being said, switched my old BMW 3 series (E46) with manual to newer 5 series with automatic steptronic transmission, and especially for longer drives, the cognitive and 'manual' load is measurably less. But you don't realize it until you migrate.
It moves to almost boring territory, luckily I am not a type of person who tends to fall asleep behind the wheel (unlike my wife).