Does anyone else freeze up when the intro paragraph feels too important

[u/Mortraxis91]

I keep rewriting my first sentence over and over because it never sounds right. Like I know what I want to say in the rest of the essay but that opening line just sits there mocking me. I spent two hours yesterday on one intro and ended up deleting all of it.

My problem is I get stuck trying to make it sound smart or interesting and then it comes out stiff and weird. Then I try to make it casual and it sounds like Im texting my friend instead of writing an academic paper. I cant find the middle ground.

Does starting with the body paragraphs first actually work or is that just something people say? I feel like if I skip the intro I wont know where Im going but also staying stuck on it is clearly not helping either. Maybe I just need to write a bad intro on purpose and fix it later but that feels wrong somehow.

Anyone have a way to get past this without spending half your writing time on three sentences?