A follow up to this post I made earlier this week.
I appreciate all the responses and words of advice everyone gave me regarding having conversations with people who aren't language instructors. One suggestion I saw multiple times was trying a social game like VRChat and join a language exchange server. So that's exactly what I did.
I don't know why I haven't done this sooner! I originally just planned on listening and starting to talk when feeling comfortable, but when somebody came up to me and asked a basic question I quietly responded thinking that my pronunciation wouldn't be good or my grammar would be wrong. But no! We had a nice conversation, albeit not entirely in Japanese, about where we're from and stuff that we like to do. Other people joined in, I went to other groups, and it was some of the most fun I've had in a while. I met people who share similar hobbies and we were able to talk about them in depth, and I got to learn a new word here and there. It has greatly pushed my drive to study more!
While I eventually would like to have an in person interaction (in the appropriate environment/context of course) with someone who isn't an instructor in Japanese, this has been a great stepping stone in building up my confidence and giving me tons of practice.
Just wanted to share. ありがとうございます!
by wootvsjapan