Is Changing Apple ID a Hassle?

It's not a hassle to make a new Apple ID. The hassle is that everything you have purchased or downloaded from the iTunes and Mac App Stores are tied to that Apple ID and cannot be transferred. If you change to a new Apple ID then you cannot update or re-download those items from your new ID. You would need to repurchase them all.

If you have an iDevice, Mac computer, other Apple hardware, all of that is connected to your Apple ID.

So, just go to "manage your Apple ID" at https://appleid.apple.com and change the primary email address to what you use now. If you do that, then your associated accounts linked to your AppleID remain unchanged and you just go on as you've always done.