Anxiety was deep down in the roots of my drinking too, and it was very hard to acknowledge it once I quit. There are a lot of avenues you can explore, but every time you face it and explore it things get easier. Just like your physical muscles.....if you try a new activity for the first time they get sore from not being used for a while. Your brain works the same way in that sense...anxiety is a natural, regular phenomenon that all human being experience. In fact, our very survival as a species is possible because of the anxiety response - our fight or flight mechanism is tied to it. The problem is, some of us have exaggerated responses or responses to things that really are not threats at all. AKA - most of us don't have to worry about a tiger jumping out from a rock and attacking us on our way to work, but we do respond to things as if we do.