My barista friend in Portland totally flipped my view on 'main character energy'

I used to think 'main character energy' was just a silly phrase for people acting self-important. Then, last month, I was having a bad day and my friend Clara at the coffee shop on 3rd Ave said, 'Hey, you need to put on your main character energy today.' I laughed it off, but she explained it wasn't about being the center of attention. She said it was about choosing to be the active person in your own story, not just letting things happen to you. That one chat changed the whole term for me. It went from a cringe buzzword to a useful little mindset shift. Now I catch myself using it to push through annoying tasks. Has anyone else had a slang term explained in a way that made it click?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery_lopez1mo ago

Chill, it's just a dumb phrase.

brown.gavin1mo ago

Actually think your friend might have it backwards. Main character energy started as a positive thing, like you said, about taking charge of your own story. But the way it's used now is almost always making fun of someone. It's for when a person acts like the whole world is their movie set and everyone else is just background. The real shift is watching a good idea get ruined by the internet.

williams.kim1mo ago

Your friend's take is nice, but it misses how people actually use the phrase. The original meaning doesn't matter if everyone now uses it as an insult. Language changes on the street, not in a coffee shop. When I hear "main character energy" online, it's always someone filming themselves crying in a grocery store aisle. The term got ruined because it describes a real and annoying behavior. Trying to reclaim it just sounds naive.