How to use JS Modules in metronic 8 laravel?

I've faced this issue so many times that it became annoying at this point.
When I add NPM package like the doc is mentioning and run laravel mix, it bundles the package and works. However!!!

I can't follow the package documentation and code examples due to the following errors I'm getting. When I create a new JS file named 'Pintura-options.js' within public/demo8/plugins/custom/FilePond/Pintura-options.js and try to use

import something from @something

When I try to use that same code within the blade file itself under I get another error.

I tried adding code in a separate JS file, withing a script tag, and within the master template...I couldn't get the code to work.. I reached a point where I started a new fresh project without Metronic just to check and the code worked as expected.

I just want to know, how can I use JS modules? where do I place the files? I'm completely lost. When I read package's docs I always ditch the module bundlers and focus on CDNs instead and I am sure that's a very bad idea for Metronic rules.

Kindly help,
Thank you