(REBROADCAST) Sober Firsts: Anxiety and Panic Attacks(REBROADCAST) Sober Firsts: Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Recovery Rocks
Lisa and Anna talk openly about anxiety and panic attacks in early sobriety, sharing workplace stories, smoking struggles and recovery tools. Their conversation focuses on how intense feelings eventually pass and how support and humour can help along the way.
21:03•18 Sept 2026
Sober Firsts: Facing Anxiety and Panic Attacks Without a Drink
Episode Overview
- Panic attacks can appear suddenly in sobriety, even when someone feels prepared and confident.
- A supportive work environment and honest follow-up conversations can soften the impact of a public anxiety episode.
- Smoking may feel like it calms nerves, but it can actually intensify anxiety over time.
- Baseline anxiety can be hidden behind a calm exterior, making self-awareness more important than outside perceptions.
- Cravings and anxious feelings do pass, and focusing on getting a sober head to the pillow each day keeps recovery on track.
“The urge to smoke will pass whether you smoke or not. The anxiety will pass. It will pass.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This rebroadcast from Recovery Rocks zooms in on a specific and often terrifying part of early sobriety: having anxiety and panic attacks without the usual crutch of alcohol or drugs. You’ll hear Lisa share a vivid account of her first sober panic attack while presenting to around 50 law firm partners.
She describes feeling her “head get a little dizzy,” her chest tightening, knees buckling, and that awful rush of saliva that makes you think you’re about to be sick. Prepared, confident, and riding a “massive pink cloud,” she still found herself unable to finish the presentation and had to step out, later calling it “an unmitigated disaster.” Anna brings a contrasting angle: she’s never had a full-blown panic attack, but has lived with a constant, hidden baseline of anxiety.
Together, they compare how anxiety can be invisible to others, even while it quietly shapes daily life. There’s a lot of humour and honesty as they talk about being easily startled, being seen as “zen” while feeling anything but, and the strange comfort of office meditation at WeWork. The episode also touches on smoking as a coping mechanism in early sobriety.
Both talk about leaning on cigarettes to get through stressful moments, only to realise smoking was “only exacerbating” their anxiety. Stories of bronchitis, nicotine Anonymous, and using cigarettes as a mental barrier between themselves and a drink show how layered recovery can be. Threaded through all of this is a gentle message: feelings don’t last forever.
Lisa recalls being told, “The urge to smoke will pass whether you smoke or not,” and they link that idea to anxiety and cravings in sobriety. If you’ve ever felt your body betray you or feared that panic will never end, you might find some comfort, realism, and a few laughs here. How do you handle your own sober firsts when they feel bigger than you are?
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