My personal method of dealing with anxiety and fear when I was younger was this:
I chose a reference point - a particular horrible scenario, and how I would deal with that - and compared subsequent worst case scenarios with that to see if they were in fact worse. If they weren't worse, it wasn't worth considering. If they were, I'd consider how to deal with them.
Your mileage may vary, though. I tended to have relatively concrete and specific fears. About the only fear which persisted in a strongly irrational way was that of permanent bodily damage - losing a hand, for example, although even just a permanent scar bothered me immensely. After I realized I was going to die eventually anyways, that fear went away.
The cognitive distortion is called "catastrophizing", I think.
I'm afraid of unexpected, strongly negative events occurring to me without warning. Nothing specific, just a generalized fear. That fear is crippling me. Worse, there's a part of me that feels that fear is keeping me safe. "If I let go of that fear," it goes, "I would start doing things and then I wouldn't be safe any more."
I haven't filled out a job application in over a week, because doing so would force me out into the world if i got an interview, and into the world consistently if I got the job.