i grinded my gears for the first time today!

first manual car, i've been learning manual for about a month now today I grinded the gears for the first time from 1st to 2nd. I think I let the clutch out before i made the gear into 2nd so i heard some grinding so i let the gear go back to neutral and kept the clutch in, didn't try to force it in or anything

did i damage the transmission? people tell me I'm dumb learning manual on this car but i don't really have any other choice

how long does it take to get good? a couple months? what if I never get better? I want to get good and be competent I try to get as much practice in as possible

sometimes i don't give enough gas when starting from the standstill and i can feel the engine rpms drop below idle (but not stall). is this bad for the engine?

is downshifting into first bad? my car has perfect auto rev match so it's perfectly smooth. sometimes i downshift from 2nd into 1st at around 10 mph is that ok or should you never downshift into 1st?

sorry for all the questions thanks in advance