????親愛的安妮： 我肯定不是唯一一個碰到這種問題的人，因此我想聽聽您的建議以及廣大讀者的想法。到目前為止，工作中的一切都還非常順利。我熱愛我的工作，而幾周前我的年終績效考評也非常優異。但我仍然無法擯除末日即將來臨的非理性感覺。這可能是因為我獲得這份工作之前曾經遭遇過兩次裁員，一次是在2008年末，一次是在2010年的另一家公司。

????其實這兩次我的業績考評也非常優秀（和現在一模一樣），因此擔心同樣的噩夢將再次降臨。我試圖將恐懼拋之腦后，告訴我自己不要擔心，但我無法安然入睡，成天都在緊張這件事。不知您有何建議？—緊張在紐約

????親愛的緊張： 當然你不是唯一有這種困擾的人。（抗焦慮藥物Xanax和Zoloft的銷量在最近幾年屢創新高絕非偶然。）芝加哥經營高管顧問公司Dark Matter Consulting的職業顧問戴維?凱撒認為你所描述的恐懼感屬于“非理性”感覺?！坝捎谀阍谶^去兩年丟了兩次工作，你感到擔心是非常正常的，”他說?！斑@一點完全可以理解?！?/p>

????紐約東莫里奇斯的職業顧問公司Surpass Your Dreams, Inc.主管黛博拉?布朗??？寺脖磉_了相同的意見：“職場焦慮非常正常。沒有焦慮反倒有點不正常?！彼a充說，她的許多客戶都有同樣的問題，但“他們告訴我他們不應感到擔心。我問他們為什么要給自己這么大的壓力，想象一些并不實際的事情。預想恐懼其實也很好，因為這樣就可以學會如何控制?！?/p>

????當然，目前的就業市場仍然動蕩不安，失業率在7.9%左右徘徊，這也是一個不利因素。招聘在緩慢復蘇，上個月盡管創造了157,000個新就業崗位，但同時也伴隨著裁員公告的沉重打擊——再就業顧問公司Challenger, Gray & Christmas提供的數據顯示，1月份的裁員數量比12月份上升24%。

????就算理由很充分，但是如果讓焦慮在你心中占據上風，它也會產生問題，可能導致臆想漸漸成為現實：睡眠不足，掌心冒汗，開始犯下錯誤，導致你一直擔心的糟糕結果。要遠離這些噩夢，試試下面四個步驟：

????1.說出你的焦慮。 “越抗拒，它越持久，因此不要抗拒，”布朗??？寺ㄗh?！澳銚氖裁?？將它寫下來。然后大聲讀出來?！甭犉饋矸浅：唵?，但戴維?凱撒說，“常常是形容焦慮要遠比處理焦慮容易得多，因為言語的形容將使它具備具體的形狀”——將沒有固定形態的焦慮烏云轉化成具體的問題（如如果你失業，將會發生什么？），這樣你就可以采取實際的行動。

????2.制定后備方案?！爸贫惚辉俅尾脝T時的后備方案，”凱撒說?！巴卣谷嗣}，尋找穩定或正在成長的公司，甚至目前公司的其他部門也可能為你帶來機會?！?/p>

????而你還可以這樣看，你已經成功度過兩次裁員的事實，可能已經成為優勢。他補充說：“你已經有兩次著地的經歷，因此開始采取對你有效的措施?！蹦憧赡苡肋h都不需要使用后備方案，但知道自己有這樣一個計劃可能會有利于抑制焦慮。

????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.