“Unless of course you’re one of those lucky people that can just balance!”
Having started to use SPDs all the time, I noticed they brought on my balance no end
To atart with on approaching junctions and other points I thought I may come to a stop, I unclipped my right foot (Still resting on the pedal) to make sure I could unclip and took it from there
I didn’t ride anywhere serious until about my 6/7th ride with them (jacobs ladder loop) by which time I was okay enough with them to ride everything (Though took until my 3rd or 4th go on the top steep but of the ladder with SPDs and not having ridden there before), I wouldn’t have wanted to have gone any sooner though
Just make sure to adjust them to the slackest setting to start with
If you coudl find any to borrow, I reckon it’d be worth trying a partly worn set of SPD pedals/cleats. I find they’re too easy to clip out off when they’re both worn a bit. When new, even at low tension they seem to need a lot of force to clip out of