What’s A ‘Main Character Walk’—And Do You Need One?

Going for a walk is already an established mental health hack and surefire way to get some feel-good endorphins pumping in your body. So, too, is listening to music you love. Together, the combination of a stroll + music can’t be beat for shaking off a bad mood or tough day at work—hence the ubiquity of headphone-wearing women power-walking through nature trails and city streets every day of the year.

But a recent TikTok trend called Main Character Walking has tweaked that mood-enhancing formula by adding a third ingredient: Main Character Energy, i.e. a confident sense of authorship within your own life or story. To perform a credible Main Character Walk you have to imagine yourself as the star of your own ongoing, un-cancellable series. You’re you, but Main Character-fied, evoking your own personal spin on Carrie Bradshaw, Elle Woods or even Lara Croft.

Think of it as a variation on power posing, a fake-it-till-you-make-it technique that's the opposite of making yourself small—which can affect your mood and your performance.

The idea is to hit the streets with your head high, your shoulders thrown back and with a lively step that keeps to the beat of your favourite bop. (May we suggest “I’m Too Sexy”?)