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"I drove home, frustrated and suffering from my symptoms of tension. After getting home and lying down for an hour, my symptoms subsided along with my anxiety"

Isn't this all the proof you need about your brain trying to protect you from "hard" or "unsafe" things by keeping you swaddled in cocoon of aloneness?
You did really excellent just going out there and doing it all. Next time, you'll remember that this is just your brain, and perhaps you'll have less fear and anxiety. You just keep going, and perhaps the next time you can find some little thing to enjoy as you are out, and then you can tell your brain with 100% truth that you are FINE and enjoy going to market and can do hard things and are SAFE. Notice if it is your thoughts that spark the anxiety, and not the actual physical symptom. Most of us think that we aren't experiencing anxiety until we feel a symptom, but I guarantee that the anxiety is the precursor and the symptom is simply the last physical reaction you sense before noticing the anxiety. If you can recognize the anxiety earlier (which for me feels like anticipation, especially before I do activities) notice what sensations you have in your body that are not symptoms. Perhaps a "buzz" like extra energy, clammy or sweaty palms, maybe lots of smiling or facial tension, temperature changes of the body, feeling like you need to move or perhaps just stop and turn around - all of it. Notice it before and and see how your body expresses itself.
Simply noticing has given me so much awareness of where anxiety lays in my senses and it has made me much less afraid when any symptoms arise because I see them all simply as my body expressing the things I am feeling and thinking.