At what point in your journey did you start doing output (with a partner or otherwise)?

Hello all, I have been studying for about a year and a half, mostly through immersion, input, anki, some small amount of journaling but I find that, even through that, whenever I attempt output I struggle a lot. I know what I want to say but the words and grammar don't quite come, sometimes I have to look either of them up just to compose a sentence.

I'm anxious as hell about it at the moment, and am not sure if I am ready to begin output in earnest, as I don't want to waste another persons time.

How did y'all approach this?