Fear Thesaurus Entry: Having No Purpose

Debilitating fears are a problem for everyone, an unfortunate part of the human experience. Whether they’re a result of learned behavior as a child, are related to a mental health condition, or stem from a past wounding event, these fears influence a character’s behaviors, habits, beliefs, and personality traits. The compulsion to avoid what they fear will drive characters away from certain people, events, and situations and hold them back in life. 

In your story, this primary fear (or group of fears) will constantly challenge the goal the character is pursuing, tempting them to retreat, settle, and give up on what they want most. Because this fear must be addressed for them to achieve success, balance, and fulfillment, it plays a pivotal part in both character arc and the overall story.

This thesaurus explores the various fears that might be plaguing your character. Use it to understand and utilize fears to fully develop your characters and steer them through their story arc. Please note that this isn’t a self-diagnosis tool. Fears are common in the real world, and while we may at times share similar tendencies as characters, the entry below is for fiction writing purposes only.

Flaws That May Emerge
Apathetic, Cynical, Impatient, Impulsive, Insecure, Irresponsible, Jealous, Lazy, Martyr, Melodramatic, Nervous, Oversensitive, Perfectionist, Whiny, Withdrawn, Workaholic, Worrywart

Hindrances and Disruptions to the Character’s Life
Drifting from job to job looking for one that provides meaning
Difficulty recognizing their own achievements
An inability to live in the moment (because the character is too busy working toward the perfect purpose-filled life)
Starting many ventures but not following through (always moving to the “next big thing”)
Needing praise and approval to counter their feelings of doubt 
Missing opportunities to align with people who are doing meaningful things because the character is searching for their own individual legacy
Constantly being sucked into the comparison game
Developing an addiction or unhealthy habit as a coping mechanism

Scenarios That Might Awaken This Fear
|Internalizing the message of self-help gurus or celebrities who equate finding purpose with monetary success
Seeing close friends or relatives succeed in meaningful areas of life
Being left behind by a colleague who moves up the ranks quickly 
Being accused by a loved one of not having enough drive or vision
Hitting an important milestone and feeling dissatisfied with life
A friend or relative dying, leading to a revelation for the character about how fleeting life is
The character being rejected in their efforts to create meaning (not being selected for a promotion, being replaced on a volunteer board, their business failing, etc.)
Seeing a portion of the population that needs help, but feeling inadequate and unequipped to help

Other Fear Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (16 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

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