This was a helpful visualization: https://youtu.be/U_sI9agWmEw?si=MItDfnTx1-oT_qX_
I skimmed the video, but it's definitely the same example that finally made this make sense to me.
I always hated the ball and sheet example simply because it was describing gravity with gravity. It felt fundamentally wrong.
Also very well explained by PBS Spacetime here https://youtu.be/UKxQTvqcpSg