I went through the roller coaster of emotions in early sobriety as well. Over time, as my sober time improved I also regained back honest to goodness confidence. Alcohol gave me mostly low self esteem but I did have bouts of super confidence, but it wasn’t real. I think your description of smoke screen sums up my experience. I also found my anxiety significantly decreased the longer I was sober. So yes it will get better. I’m able to handle curveballs better. I’m also better able to set boundaries. If work is piling unreasonable load on you, I’m wondering if you can set a priority of what has to be done, what can possibly wait, etc. I’m rooting for you!