Originally Posted by
sleepie 
I hope so. I was told by a former counselor that the first year is rough. I mean this is tied up with my normal chemistry as well, the tic disorder and other stuff go hand in hand with anxiety. Anxiety can be chemical just as depression can- but for some reason, it is ok to basically accuse people of choosing to be anxious.
I am 3.5 years plus sober and I still deal with anxiety Sleepie. Your former counselor was right.
I think the bottom line is that you have problems you need to deal with that are unrelated to your sobriety, and that makes you no different from any of the rest of us. Your problems might be different but we all have something. Being sober is fantastic - and it will help you better deal with all of your problems - but sobriety is NOT a solution to your problems. If you have anxiety and other psychological issues, you need therapy. If you have physical problems, you need to work with a medical doctor. Every problem has a solution, but we all need to hold up our end of the deal.
Things will get better over time, but you must do the work to make it happen. A therapist cannot "fix" you - you have to fix yourself based on the tools you are given. And it will require you to do things you don't want to do - every day. Sitting at home on the computer will not cure your anxiety or your tics or your depression. Getting out into the world and doing exercise, therapy, meetings, mindfuness or whatever else you have access to will.
You've been here on SR for over 6 years and you are now sober - that is fantastic. Now you need to start working on the underlying issues - and quite frankly, while SR can be somewhat supportive for you I think it's really holding you back in many ways too. It's an outlet for you to share all of your other problems, but you rarely ever actually do anything to make them better other than complain about them.
You mention that people don't "choose" to be anxious...that may be true, but people with anxiety CAN choose to do something about it and get better. Listing reasons why you CANNOT do something will not help.