One thing that really helped me was to draw things that I didn't necessarily even want to. I got online and I found a daily art prompt sheet for January. I texted my cousin and asked if she wanted to do it with me. She was totally on board, so every night for nearly 2 or 3 weeks we would Facetime for 15-45 minutes and do our little art prompts. Some days it was something that I never had any interest in drawing, like "The New Year", what does that even mean? Or "winter clouds". It made us step a little bit outside our comfort zones. But even after the first 10 days, it was soooo crazy how I felt so much more comfortable with my work. I think that it was a combination of 1) doing it every day, 2) showing it to someone else, 3) actually improving, even if just a little bit. Trying something you've never tried before is how you improved. I'd never tried to draw a penguin before, but was actually really proud of how it turned out.
The biggest thing is not to be intimidated by the people you think are "better" at it then you. In art, you will quickly realize that there is really no such thing as better. Everyone has their own different style. Some people appreciate certain styles more than others, but it doesn't make one better. My cousin (the one mentioned above) used to loooveeee to do art together the couple times every few years we saw them. As we got older, started to improve our skills and define our own styles, I realized that I didn't feel comfortable sharing my art with her because I felt like she was better. Why would she care about MY art? I have a very different art style than hers. If she draws an animal, she will look at a reference photo and make it insanely realistic. If I draw an animal, I intentionally make it cartoony. I do big eyes with lots of character, and I exaggerate proportions. It's just our styles, it wasn't that hers was better.
Some people just don't get that. My grandma always liked my cousin's style better than mine. She would go on and on, gushing about her art ALL THE TIME, like she just loved it and was soooo proud of her. I could deal with that, I had supportive people. I didn't need her to love my art. BUT She once told me "Her (my cousin) thing is art, just like your thing is... your pets" That like... really hurt. Just because I love my pets doesn't mean I can't be passionate abt art too! She didn't say it to be mean or hurtful, but just the fact that she would define it like that was kind of... offensive. OF COURSE she's going to think that my cousin works harder on art than I do. My parents couldn't afford to buy me the art supplies her parents bought her, my parents couldn't afford the weekly art lessons her parents put her in. I'm sitting over here with my little mechanical pencil and $2 sketch pad, asking for art supplies for every birthday while she's over there with her $50 markers, and her hundreds of dollars worth of oil paints, watercolors, acrylics, gouache, brushes, and canvases. I kind of stopped doing any art for a long time. Like for 2 or 3 years, it just wasn't something I enjoyed any more. Then her mom sent her down here to do a summer art course with me and I realized my cousin was actually really nice and really encouraging and didn't think she was any better than me. So I got over it and went to art camp.
Moral of the story = Don't let people who don't even understand it put you down!