What Is a Main Character?

When I first told someone that I was creating a business called “Our Story Universe” that was dedicated to helping people become their main characters, their first question was, “What does that mean?” I then spent the next five minutes trying to explain the idea in my head and I realized that the term is vague, to say the least. We often hear it in English class to label one character in a book but over the years, I have discovered the true weight and meaning in this phrase.

Given a character like Harry Potter, we imagine the main character as someone brave and strong yet they never leave the page. However, I see the main character as someone who is living in our world. It is a load on someone’s shoulders - it is not easy and not for attention or money. It is not normal which automatically comes with its challenges. The main character is this state of doing and being - feeling all emotions, being present for adventures, and embodying the true spirit of being a human.

I once was upset during a consistent period of challenges, and someone said to me “I would not even like for you to be happy, I just wish you were content.” I have never feared a sentence more. To give up the anger and passion I felt in this time may have been easier but I felt as if my heart was silenced at best, sliced away at worst. That is because I believe I am meant to live every opportunity in life and yes, at times that hurts. But it is doing and being that I never regret at the end of the road. The only times I have regretted are when I hid that part away.

So in short, what is the main character? The main character is constantly doing, takes every day and sees it as part of their story, and fights to carry the passion of what it is to be living in their minds. Life is too short, to do anything else.

Below is a link to Lili Reinhart’s perspective, seeing the beauty in feeling everything.

https://www.tiktok.com/@jayshetty/video/7349210583876504874