亲爱的安妮： 我肯定不是唯一一个碰到这种问题的人，因此我想听听您的建议以及广大读者的想法。到目前为止，工作中的一切都还非常顺利。我热爱我的工作，而几周前我的年终绩效考评也非常优异。但我仍然无法摈除末日即将来临的非理性感觉。这可能是因为我获得这份工作之前曾经遭遇过两次裁员，一次是在2008年末，一次是在2010年的另一家公司。

    其实这两次我的业绩考评也非常优秀（和现在一模一样），因此担心同样的噩梦将再次降临。我试图将恐惧抛之脑后，告诉我自己不要担心，但我无法安然入睡，成天都在紧张这件事。不知您有何建议？—紧张在纽约

    亲爱的紧张： 当然你不是唯一有这种困扰的人。（抗焦虑药物Xanax和Zoloft的销量在最近几年屡创新高绝非偶然。）芝加哥经营高管顾问公司Dark Matter Consulting的职业顾问戴维•凯撒认为你所描述的恐惧感属于“非理性”感觉。“由于你在过去两年丢了两次工作，你感到担心是非常正常的，”他说。“这一点完全可以理解。”

    纽约东莫里奇斯的职业顾问公司Surpass Your Dreams, Inc.主管黛博拉•布朗•福克曼也表达了相同的意见：“职场焦虑非常正常。没有焦虑反倒有点不正常。”她补充说，她的许多客户都有同样的问题，但“他们告诉我他们不应感到担心。我问他们为什么要给自己这么大的压力，想象一些并不实际的事情。预想恐惧其实也很好，因为这样就可以学会如何控制。”

    当然，目前的就业市场仍然动荡不安，失业率在7.9%左右徘徊，这也是一个不利因素。招聘在缓慢复苏，上个月尽管创造了157,000个新就业岗位，但同时也伴随着裁员公告的沉重打击——再就业顾问公司Challenger, Gray & Christmas提供的数据显示，1月份的裁员数量比12月份上升24%。

    就算理由很充分，但是如果让焦虑在你心中占据上风，它也会产生问题，可能导致臆想渐渐成为现实：睡眠不足，掌心冒汗，开始犯下错误，导致你一直担心的糟糕结果。要远离这些噩梦，试试下面四个步骤：

    1.说出你的焦虑。 “越抗拒，它越持久，因此不要抗拒，”布朗•福克曼建议。“你担心什么？将它写下来。然后大声读出来。”听起来非常简单，但戴维•凯撒说，“常常是形容焦虑要远比处理焦虑容易得多，因为言语的形容将使它具备具体的形状”——将没有固定形态的焦虑乌云转化成具体的问题（如如果你失业，将会发生什么？），这样你就可以采取实际的行动。

    2.制定后备方案。“制定你被再次裁员时的后备方案，”凯撒说。“拓展人脉，寻找稳定或正在成长的公司，甚至目前公司的其他部门也可能为你带来机会。”

    而你还可以这样看，你已经成功度过两次裁员的事实，可能已经成为优势。他补充说：“你已经有两次着地的经历，因此开始采取对你有效的措施。”你可能永远都不需要使用后备方案，但知道自己有这样一个计划可能会有利于抑制焦虑。

    Dear Annie: I can't be the only one with this problem, so I'm curious to hear what you and your readers think about it. Right now, everything at work is going very well. I love my job, and I had an outstanding year-end performance review just a few weeks ago. But I still can't shake an irrational feeling of impending doom. It's probably because, before I got this job, I was laid off twice, once in late 2008, and again at a different company in 2010.

    In both cases, my performance evaluations were great (just like now), so I guess I'm afraid it's going to happen again. I've tried just brushing the fear aside and telling myself to stop worrying, but I'm having trouble sleeping, which is starting to affect my concentration during the day. Do you have any suggestions? —Nervous in New York

    Dear Nervous: You're right to suppose that you're far from alone with this. (It's no coincidence that sales of anti-anxiety drugs Xanax and Zoloft have soared to new heights in the past couple of years.) David Kaiser, a career counselor who runs Chicago executive coaching firm Dark Matter Consulting, takes issue with your description of your sense of dread as "irrational." "Considering that you lost two jobs in two years, it's normal to be worried," he says. "It's completely understandable."

    Deborah Brown-Volkman, head of career coaching firm Surpass Your Dreams, Inc., in East Moriches, N.Y., agrees: "Career fear is normal. You wouldn't be human without it." She adds that many of her clients share your anxiety, but "they tell me they shouldn't be afraid. I ask them why they would put so much pressure on themselves -- to expect something that unrealistic. It's much better to expect fear, so you can learn how to manage it."

    Of course, it doesn't help that the job market is still so wobbly, with unemployment stuck at 7.9%. Hiring is slowly picking up, but the 157,000 new jobs created last month were accompanied by a steady drumbeat of layoff announcements -- 24% more of them in January than in December, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

    Still, the trouble with letting even a well-founded worry get the best of you is that it can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy: Lose enough sleep and suffer enough sweaty palms over time, and you'll start making mistakes that could lead to the very outcome you're dreading. Before things get that far, try these four steps:

    1. Articulate exactly what you fear. "What you resist persists, so stop resisting," suggests Brown-Volkman. "What are you afraid of? Write it down. Say it out loud." Sounds simple, but, says David Kaiser, "Often just naming a fear makes it easier to deal with, because putting words to it gives it a shape" -- turning an amorphous black cloud of worry into a specific problem (e.g., what happens if you lose this job?) so you can take practical action.

    2. Make a Plan B. "Have a backup plan for what you'll do if you do get laid off again," Kaiser says. "Keep up your networking, and look around for stable or growing companies, or even other parts of your current company where there might be opportunities for you."

    The fact that you've survived two layoffs already could actually be an advantage, if you choose to see it that way, he adds: "You've landed on your feet twice before, so start doing what worked for you then." You may never need your Plan B, but just knowing it's there could go a long way toward stemming anxiety.