03. It’s giving… Main Character Energy

Whether it be seeping from your pores or something you need 15 hype songs to conjure up, Main Character Energy is the shit. Main Character Energy (MCE) can be defined in various ways, for example, partaking in a TikTok trend where the subway wind blows in your face, low-key strutting down the street with your headphones on or posting that selfie you know you look good in. In some ways, it’s BDE but for a wider range of people.

After 23 years, I have learned how to harness MCE and it’s a great feeling. Personally, the rise of the terminology “Main Character Energy” has helped me raise my standards on how much I push myself out of my comfort zone and not care as much about what people think. Although venturing out of my comfort zone is under the gen-z guise of channeling my MCE, I think it’s just another way to say you’re taking charge of the “movie” that is your life.

All that cringeworthy stuff aside, although I understand TikTok can be a place of comparison with influencers getting gifts and hefty paychecks, I still appreciate the feminist and self-empowerment trends that are taking shape. No matter how much I tease my extroverted younger brother about him acting like the main character, I’ve decided to be a hypocrite and prove that I am indeed the main character.

From looking at the “popular girls” at school, with what I can now admit was envy, I am slowly but surely getting over the weird jealousy of wanting what they had (which was attention, and I honestly don’t think I even wanted that). Weirdly enough, I guess I  have TikTok trends to thank for caring a little less about what people think about me, one “out there” outfit, drum lesson and blog post at a time.