Started working from home at the beginning of the pandemic. First time anxiety hit me was a couple months in. 

The anxiety got pretty bad over the next several months. Depersonalization happened a few times as well. Got prescribed xanex and would have to take it even when leaving the house briefly because I knew the anxiety would kick in.

When things started opening up and I tried seeing friends, going to restaurants, driving, being on a plane etc.. my anxiety would rise which made me want to stay home.

I didn't want to be a hermit or let anxiety control what decisions I made in life, so I would precautionary take my meds before I left the house and started enjoying being out and not needing to worry about my anxiety kicking in. 

Ater getting outside a couple times a day every day for a few months, my anxiety slowly started to disappear and leaned off the meds slowly as well. The anxiety completely went away 2-3 months ago and I haven't needed to take my meds since. (Aside from bring on planes because flying sucks!)

I think pushing myself through each particular anxiety inducing activity multiple times, whether it was caused by a group of people, being at a restaurant, driving etc.. convinced my mind that it really wasn't as crazy as I thought. 

It's nice to feel normal again. 

Hoping this experience will help someone out there!

Cheers. 

Side note: Xanax is known to be addictive and would have a conversation with your doc about it to see if it's right for you. Their are other meds out there that I'm sure would help just the same or better.