I had the same problem!!! I honestly didn’t get comfortable with it until I went for my instructor cert and had to do a "demonstration quality" version. (I still hate it but my students don’t notice.)
Here’s what I did when I was at home: Focus on becoming a mouth breather while your watching TV or doing chores (most ladies tend to be nose breathers). Pretend you have a cold and try not to breather through your nose at all - bonus points is you talk funny. Then, lay face down in your bath tub and practice breathing through your snorkel. You’ll have to hold it up out of the water since you won’t have your mask on.
This is what worked for me in the pool and what I do with my students: Put all of your gear on except for your mask and sit down in the shallow end of the pool. Let your instructor or dive master hold the mask for you while you get into a meditative state and are able to breathe comfortably through your regulator. (If you find that you get water in your nose, tuck your chin a little - it helps.) When you are ready, hold out your hand so your instructor can give you your mask and put it on and clear it. Then, try a couple of times to remove and replace it. At first, I found the removal part more unnerving.
Ways to break it down further:
PADI requires you to have a snorkel but if it gets in your way, remove it until you are comfortable with just the mask.
Also, invest in a fabric strap since the rubber strap will catch in your hair. I LOVE Marsoops b/c they float but the others are okay.
Finally, if blowing your nose and clearing your mask is also a problem, I have my students return to the surface, keep their reg in and place their finger below their nose. This way they can inhale through the reg and use their finger to gauge the forcefulness of the exhale through their nose. (I offer to buy them a soda if the get a booger on their finger. Whatever works.)
Good luck - you’ll get there eventually.