How do I stop feeling intimidated by contracts?

Contracts feel intimidating because they seem to hide traps in language built to exclude you. So you sign or send and hope. That avoidance is understandable, and it is also the real risk, larger than any clause you fear. What you do not read can bind you. A contract is only a written record of what each side promises and what happens if a promise breaks. Strip the formality and that is all it is. You do not need to be a lawyer to read for the few things that matter: what you owe, what you get, how it ends, and what it costs to leave. Take one contract in front of you and find just those four things, marking anything you do not understand to ask about. You are not conquering law. You are refusing to be governed by pages you never read.