Yes. That's what I often hear whenever I discuss the importance of using idioms. "It feels artificial" say some of my students. Well, allow me to paraphrase. What you really want to say is probably something like this: "I feel weird because I've never done it before".
Does that get too close to the bone? Eating with chopsticks, playing a new chord on the guitar, wearing a business suit, saying "my husband"... All those experiences feel "strange" at first, right? Only the first time we do them. But it's not because they are intrinsically odd. Some Asian peoples have been eating food with chopsticks for millennia. English speakers have been using idioms for centuries. Your mother may have been saying "my husband" for some decades now. There's nothing odd about those habits.
So, yes. Speaking natural English may be a little "strange" only when you do it for the first time.
If you don't feel comfortable using idioms maybe you should reevaluate your whole learning process because, the way I see it, the change from intermediate to advanced level can be defined as a transition from "grammatically correct English" into "natural English". And being natural involves some serious use of idiomatic expressions. So stop feeling weird and embrace what's real. The payoff is definitely worth the effort.
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