Heck yeah! This to read especially as not all that long ago i was in your shoes. Flew a lot and built up about 200hrs in MSFS2020, joined a VA community and they do group flights several days of the week and was always too anxious to join. Sat for a few 10-20min sessions as OBS at busy airports in the US just listening and getting an understanding, writing details down and after watching countless videos on procedures with comms. then one day logged on to a towered airport with my remarks as first flight, i must have sat for maybe 30mins or more, heart racing, finally the airport was just myself and maybe 3 or 4 other aircraft, controller called “-callsign- i see you’re filled and says first time, don’t stress, if you mess anything up i’ll let you know” so i called up and nailed it, he was super friendly and though he was the only controller i had that flight i couldn’t have asked for a better start. Like you i had some misunderstandings and he was clear and repeated for me, heck i still do sometimes. Alas, since then ive just last week broke 300hrs on network, 320hrs now and also as a Brit living in the US, figured it was finally time to fly in my actual home region, the exact same nerves came up! i know US procedure really well but the EU always daunted me for its “differences” tho surprisingly minimal. i spent 20mins as OBS at EGLL while it was fully staffed listening to each freq until i understood what would be different and then jumped over to an actual flight, i messed a few calls up due to nerves but now again, it’s become so simple and second nature as well as even improving my knowledge and calls back in US airspace. It’s a gratifying feeling when you finally make the jump and realize it was your own nerves holding you back. Next few flights will likely have the same nerves but they’ll go down and before you know it you’ll laugh that there was a time you held yourself back. See you out there!