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Welcome to the forum integrity.
You're doing the right thing so far....taper down instead of just stopping a high dosage all at once. I'm not really familiar with paxil, but are you also able to drop down to 10 mg for a while also prior to stopping completely?
Also, have you done any counseling during this time?

Don's right about not going off anything "cold turkey". You should back yourself down from it and definitely have your doctor follow you closely as you do it.

Are you ever going to feel the way you did before all this happened? No. You've had a major change in your life and they always change how we feel and react to other people. This doesn't have to be a bad thing though. You're a little older, a little wiser and ALOT more independent now. These are all 3 good things.

While change is hard (harder for some than others), it doesn't change who you are fundamentally and THAT person was able to function very well without medication right? You'll be able to now as well. The medication only helped you through it and that's what they're for. As long as you've done the work it takes to get through something like that, you'll be just fine. You're not nearly as dependent on the medication as you think you are trust me. You're probably just scared that if you go off it, you're going to hurt like you did when you started it. I doubt very seriously that, after 3 years, you'll still be hurting like that without medication. If so, give yourself a chance to work through it and then if you feel you can't, try the medication again for another 6 months.

Is it possible that you're panicking because you're afraid of going off the meds? That coupled with a hectic week would send me straight to the cereal bowl with all the other fruit loops so why not give it a chance when things have calmed down?