How hard is it to prepare food alone at the beginning?

Without being an experienced cook, its difficult. Even the best cooks use recipes and I'd recommend using one. Just take it step by step. Once your experienced enough, you can try taking risks.

Preparation/weighing out of the ingredients and having them in individual containers before you start the actual cooking will make your life far easier. Keep it simple at first.
Follow the recipe and keep an eye on the dish if it has to go in the oven.

It's a buster when you are
at the beginning of a program that you forgot to record.

It's not.
It'll take some time to get used to.
If you have a family let them help you out.
Have family or friends over and can do lunch or dinner.

It's not hard. Start simple. Get a cook book and watch some cooking shows although many of those do overly complex cooking. There are a lot of "one pot wonders" and slow cooker meals that are really simple. Freeze or store left overs for really easy meals on busy days.

I've lived alone for decades. I do most of my cooking on weekends and then eat left overs during the week. Last night was my birthday so I grilled rack of lamb, steamed an artichoke and washed it down with a bottle of 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape. Total prep time was under 10 minutes and cooking time about 25 minutes which gave me time to enjoy a sazerac cocktail while it cooked.

beginning of what? Living alone as in on your own for the first time? Living alone after the kids moved out? Living alone after a divorce or death of your partner?

Depends on your background. If your family never cooked or you were never in the kitchen when the cooking was happening - it would probably be a bit confusing. If you were around the kitchen and cooking your whole childhood - it should be really easy.

Either way, it's good to start with a basic cookbook. I'd recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything as a handy bible to have around. https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650

It’s not. It’s just takes time, and patience, and ability to read recipe procedures carefully.

My first real attempt was a coffee cake so I got out the brand new Betty Crocker cook book and found a recipe. Called for a cup of coffee in the recipe so I put in a whole cup of coffee grounds oh yeah that was one good cake, NOT.

Everyone makes first time mistakes and then you eventually decide to try a pinch of (whatever) to start personalizing your own cooking. Have fun get some ingredients and have at it.

A good cookbook, watching videos on how to prepare whatever you are preparing .. .not that difficult.
We learn from our attempts, from our successes, and also from our failures. You will not always have your food turn out as hoped for. and that is okay.

I'd imagine it would make no damn sense at first if you've never touched a pot, pan, or real plants and animals. That's why it's so sad we are many generations removed from learning from our parent's who made every meal, every day in the home. I'd imagine it would be like being given a scalpel and a guy with a fence post in his head and being told "have at it." You have no idea where to start or what's going on.

What I see in the new foodies is they take instructions on some fancy thing. It's easy enough to follow an internet article telling you step by step how to make a bolognese sauce but it would go as well as being texted how to get that fence post out of that head. What people don't want to learn is the basic skills first. You have to **** up roux, **** up meat, **** up noodles, and **** up seasoning 30 times over before you can put all three together without having a disaster, very well garnished.

Ideally you would have boiled potatoes with your mama 20 years ago.You have half a clue but need to really own it for yourself now. Unfortunately, we have to reinvent the wheel. And the blind are writing blog posts for the blind.

Cooking is not easy , in the sense of preparing something that taste good. I suggest starting out with recipes so you will know how ingredients interact and taste.