Sorry for your bad experience...

I spent a long time on my hybrid with platform pedals, but when I thought about moving to a road bike, I began practicing the motion of clipping/unclipping on the hybrid. Everytime I stopped, I would put my left pedal down to 6 o'clock, and imitated the unclipping motion iwth my right foot up at 12 oclock. WHen i was ready to start again, I would be sure to flip my left pedal up to 12oclock and practice pushing down on that pedal to start, and then moving my right foot on the pedal. (I unclip my right foot, so this may be reversed if you want to use your left to unclip.) While riding iwth platforms, I was inconsistent with which foot i used to start, and stop, etc. Practicing the motion just got me used to having to think about it a bit, and also the muscle memory.

I also paid a lot of attention to what other riders were doing while on group rides. It helped me learn that I wouldn't have to clip in until I got through busy intersections, etc...

When I got my road bike, I didn't put the clipless on right away. I got used to the bike first. THen, i added the pedals and went down to the paved greenway and clipped in, rode about half a mile, picked an arbitrary point to stop at and unclipped. Over. And over. And over :-) It was a stress free way to learn.

As others have said, don't feel any pressure to use them. Riding should be fun Good luck!