well, one thing that really helps is this: at first, just stay in the middle chain ring. since you live in flat country, it should be sufficient for your needs for now.
Get used to going up and down the gears in the middle chain ring.
You will probably do just fine.

On my bianchi, i rarely get into the 3rd ring (high speed) so i sit on the second ring much of the time and drop down to the little one for tougher hills.
get used to one, then 2 then three.

baby steps!