Visual Studio Code – I keep encountering a "failure to build wheels" message when trying to pip install mysqlclient?

I’m running Python 3.12 and have mySQL 8.0. I’m working on the Coursera course for professional development (I’m not currently in tech or any adjacent field. I only have the tiniest amount of HTML and CSS experience from my tumblr days). I’ve extended my deadline three times now and I’m so frustrated I might wipe my whole computer and start over.

Here’s my log:

 Downloading mysqlclient-2.2.0.tar.gz (89 kB)
     ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 89.5/89.5 kB 211.5 kB/s eta 0:00:00
  Installing build dependencies ... done
  Getting requirements to build wheel ... done
  Installing backend dependencies ... done
  Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) ... done
Building wheels for collected packages: mysqlclient
  Building wheel for mysqlclient (pyproject.toml) ... error
  error: subprocess-exited-with-error

  × Building wheel for mysqlclient (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.
  │ exit code: 1
  ╰─> [46 lines of output]
      # Options for building extention module:
        library_dirs: ['C:/mariadb-connector\lib\mariadb', 'C:/mariadb-connector\lib']
        libraries: ['kernel32', 'advapi32', 'wsock32', 'shlwapi', 'Ws2_32', 'crypt32', 'secur32', 'bcrypt', 'mariadbclient']
        extra_link_args: ['/MANIFEST']
        include_dirs: ['C:/mariadb-connector\include\mariadb', 'C:/mariadb-connector\include']
        extra_objects: []
        define_macros: [('version_info', (2, 2, 0, 'final', 0)), ('__version__', '2.2.0')]
      running bdist_wheel
      running build
      running build_py
      creating build
      creating buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312
      creating buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdbconnections.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdbconverters.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdbcursors.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdbrelease.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdbtimes.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdb_exceptions.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      copying srcMySQLdb__init__.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      creating buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants   
      copying srcMySQLdbconstantsCLIENT.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants
      copying srcMySQLdbconstantsCR.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants
      copying srcMySQLdbconstantsER.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants
      copying srcMySQLdbconstantsFIELD_TYPE.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants
      copying srcMySQLdbconstantsFLAG.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants
      copying srcMySQLdbconstants__init__.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdbconstants
      running egg_info
      writing srcmysqlclient.egg-infoPKG-INFO
      writing dependency_links to srcmysqlclient.egg-infodependency_links.txt
      writing top-level names to srcmysqlclient.egg-infotop_level.txt
      reading manifest file 'srcmysqlclient.egg-infoSOURCES.txt' 
      reading manifest template 'MANIFEST.in'
      adding license file 'LICENSE'
      writing manifest file 'srcmysqlclient.egg-infoSOURCES.txt' 
      copying srcMySQLdb_mysql.c -> buildlib.win-amd64-cpython-312MySQLdb
      running build_ext
      building 'MySQLdb._mysql' extension
      creating buildtemp.win-amd64-cpython-312
      creating buildtemp.win-amd64-cpython-312Release
      creating buildtemp.win-amd64-cpython-312Releasesrc        
      creating buildtemp.win-amd64-cpython-312ReleasesrcMySQLdb
      "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019BuildToolsVCToolsMSVC14.29.30133binHostX86x64cl.exe" /c /nologo /O2 /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD "-Dversion_info=(2, 2, 0, 'final', 0)" -D__version__=2.2.0 -IC:/mariadb-connectorincludemariadb -IC:/mariadb-connectorinclude -Ic:UsersmikaiAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython312include -Ic:UsersmikaiAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython312Include "-IC:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019BuildToolsVCToolsMSVC14.29.30133include" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.19041.0ucrt" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.19041.0shared" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.19041.0um" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.19041.0winrt" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.19041.0cppwinrt" /Tcsrc/MySQLdb/_mysql.c /Fobuildtemp.win-amd64-cpython-312Releasesrc/MySQLdb/_mysql.obj
      _mysql.c
      src/MySQLdb/_mysql.c(29): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'mysql.h': No such file or directory
      error: command 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2
      [end of output]

  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for mysqlclient
Failed to build mysqlclient
ERROR: Could not build wheels for mysqlclient, which is required to install pyproject.toml-based projects```


I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling what feels like a thousand times. I've checked my path and I'm not sure but I don't think there's anything wrong there. I've been trying to solve this and finish my course for weeks but my brain is not up to the task. Can someone smarter than me please explain what I need to do like I'm five? 

Thanks in advance.