It’s a metaphor. I was not actually naked in the middle of the freeway. However, it was the most descriptive way I could find to tell the docs and therapists how I felt most of the time.

“So you are feeling nervous all the time?” The doc asked, and I thought, “nervous?” I said, “Brother, this ain’t nervous, I’ve been nervous, and this ain’t it.”

So we start again, “Tell me about your anxiety” I must paint him a picture so that he truly understands.

So I said…

Imagine it’s 2 AM. It’s dark, and it’s scary. You slowly become aware that you are sitting crossed-legged on the interstate with your back to oncoming traffic.

You can’t move; you don’t know where you are or how you got there; one wrong
move and you die. Now stay with that feeling for hours, sometimes multiple times a day, every fucking day.

Whether it was my imagination or real, it seemed they got it then, and they really wanted to help. Don’t get me wrong, they wanted to help me before I painted that picture for them, but I felt we reached a deeper level after I explained it that way.