Everyone wants to feel like the main character sometimes. To walk into a room and feel seen, to believe that the story is moving forward because you’re in it. The internet has just given that feeling a name: “main character energy.”
Started in the midst of the world still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, this simple archetype took social media by storm, marking a new sense of individuality stemming from the confidence to live as yourself fully.
Maybe this is the day you’re going to feel like Naina from Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani or Om from Om Shanti Om, and live a full, dramatic, and incredible life. Maybe this is the day you learn to prioritize yourself, to build your confidence, and just go for it. All the main characters do it.
These characters, with perfect lighting and cool wardrobes that no one else has, leave a mark on us and set an example of how good life can be.
But the closer you look, the more similar they start to seem. Same body type, same skin tone range, same background story with slightly different packaging, and not enough room for everyone.
In classrooms, workplaces, and even friend groups, we reflect the values we catch from movies and social media all the time. If you never see someone who looks like you living like a main character, then why should you be able to in your own life?
If the people who look like you are always the side characters in movies, then what are you?
That stuff seeps in deeper than we realize. It’s not just movies alone. It’s classrooms, workplaces, and friend groups. Sometimes we start believing that confidence, success, or being “main character material” belongs to a certain type of person.
But that’s not true at all. Anyone can be the main character. Everyone is the main character of their story and should be able to live with that confidence. After all, being the main character isn’t about outshining others—it’s about recognizing that every single person in the world has a narrative worth romanticizing.
So go ahead, queue the playlist, wear the jacket that makes you feel invincible, live your cinematic moment, but don’t forget to make space in the frame. Geet from Jab We Met wouldn’t be Geet without the people around her who helped her grow, stumble, and find her way. In the same way, your main character energy shines brighter when it leaves room for others to feel like one too.