My ultimate goal with learning this is I want to self host my own Monero node and eventually maybe even self host emails and after that learn docker as well.
But I am a long, long way from there.
Where do I start with something like this if I have no experience with networking?
Should I just start with learning a VPS? I just don't like the idea of me not being able to physically control the server because I think one day Monero might be outlawed or something.
I would suggest to familiarize yourself with basics of networking and linux first, something like freecodecamp has decent tutorials and you would learn a lot from just a few chapters (#^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiQR5rTSshw%29%2C and there are also some youtubers who have self hosting tutorials that you can follow along and learn (Jim's garage is my favorite since i learnt a lot from him and his discord channel is also a helpful place for discussions, questions, etc.). So join such communities and you'll learn at your pace.