I don't know of many people who came into trying to stop drinking that did not make a shambles of their life in some way. There is a lot of wreckage to clean up once we get sober and that in itself can be overwhelming. It took a program of recovery for me to be able to get past the anxiety and move into recovery. It taught me how to live life sober and clean up those things that kept the anxiety going and driving me back to the drink when I would try to stop drinking.
There are many programs of recovery out there and many people have found positive results with each of them. The program that worked for me is AA. I would encourage you to look in our alcoholism forum and at the top of it there is a sticky with a list of different recovery programs. Pick one from the list if it isn't the one for you then pick another. You will find one that works for you. Hang in there and don't ever stop trying. You are not to old to change. I was 35 y/o before I found a solution to my alcoholism.