Nearly every day for the past two months, Liv Jordan has woken up at 5:45 a.m., journaled and completed a cardio workout before breakfast. By the end of the day, she has made sure to hit at least 10,000 steps.
Her three-month routine, meant to kick-start new wellness habits, is called the Winter Arc, and Ms. Jordan is among the participants who have been posting on social media about how it has helped them make the most of the cold, dreary months at the end of the year. From October to January, they set out to get a head start on their New Year’s resolutions and develop lasting, foundational practices.
“It created a sense of routine for me,” said Ms. Jordan, 22, who runs a fitness and wellness account on TikTok. She incorporated other daily habits, too, including a 9 p.m. bedtime and going to the gym four to five times a week.
“Instead of just going to the gym whenever and scrolling on my phone, and mindlessly consuming so much social media,” she said, “I was able to really dial in on who I want to be, and who I want to become in the future.”
Experiences with the Winter Arc are filling TikTok and Instagram feeds, with moody videos of walks through the snow to the gym, predawn push-ups or cleaning and nighttime routines at home. The most avid Arc followers stick to daily challenges (and some get more extreme, even shaving their heads — more on that later). There are videos that help people get started at any time during the three-month period.
It’s meant to be personalized and flexible. “People think of self-care and they immediately think, I’m going to go out and run a marathon, and it’s all about exercise and diet,” said Shakira Espada-Campos, the chief of behavioral health at MD Live, a telehealth service. “It’s really not; it’s so unique to the individual.”
But some users view the Winter Arc as a time for isolation, including from friends and romantic partners. The more extreme interpretations can potentially cause more harm than good, Dr. Espada-Campos said.
“It’s a really tough time of year, every year,” Dr. Espada-Campos said. “I don’t want people to misuse things like this.”
The trend has moved from fitness circles to the mainstream.
Some have practiced the Winter Arc for years. Common requirements include maintaining strict gym and diet routines to minimize the distractions of daily life.
“I view it as almost like the fourth quarter of an N.B.A. Finals game,” said Wissam Nabulsi, 22, who runs a fitness account on TikTok and is completing his second Winter Arc. “You can take this time to really push and push and push.”
The trend began to reach a wider audience and saturate social media feeds in September, when Carly Berges, who runs a wellness account on TikTok, posted a rundown of the Winter Arc ethos. The video has since been viewed more than four million times.
Participants began focusing on wellness efforts beyond early wake-up times and gym routines.
Emma Robinson, a sophomore at Cornell University who wrote about the Winter Arc for The Cornell Daily Sun, said that she wanted to decompress from her intense biological sciences and English studies as the weather in Ithaca, N.Y., grew colder.
“I read a lot for my English classes, but I’m also making myself read for 20 minutes — something else outside of that,” she said.
The workload is stressful, she added, “so I try to do a five-minute meditation; I don’t know if it does anything, but I’ll take whatever help I can get.”
Are there rules?
Sort of. The typical Winter Arc begins on Oct. 1 and lasts three months. But it’s not uncommon for people to start later with the goal of maintaining healthy habits into the new year.
Goals can vary, but discipline is key. It is also considered a time to step away from distractions, sometimes including social obligations and dating, to allow for personal reflection and growth.
“I think there can be value in taking a break from things if you’re saying: ‘Hey, you know what? I’m getting really tired of the dating apps,’” said Thea Gallagher, a clinical psychologist and the director of wellness programs at New York University Langone Health.
Some people prioritize fitness and a lone-wolf mentality, while others try to strengthen and maintain healthy friendships, work on their mental health and skin care, or incorporate something as simple as more time to relax.
“We all could probably benefit from taking a little bit more time to observe and explore our inner world,” Dr. Gallagher said.
What’s this about shaved heads, again?
Some die-hard Winter Arc proponents have even cited hair as a distraction during this time of deep personal commitment. But many see that as a bridge too far.
“I found myself kind of idolizing my hair at certain points,” said Mr. Nabulsi, who buzzed his hair this year as part of the ritual.
There is a monkish side to the trend where people feel the need to completely distance themselves from friends and upend other parts of their daily lives, something many experts are wary of.
One YouTube video that was posted last year and has been viewed more than 350,000 times touts the Winter Arc as a way for people to make themselves “unrecognizable” in only 90 days.
The desire for that kind of radical change can be a sign of a larger issue, Dr. Gallagher said.
“If you’re trying to completely change yourself overnight, there’s probably something more going on,” she said. “These extremes tend to not really produce meaningful, long-lasting gains.”
“It might sound more boring and mundane to think of reading the 20 pages a day, or reading for 10 minutes a day, but that’s where you’re going to see more kinds of results for most people,” she added.
How to get the most out of the Winter Arc.
As with any wellness endeavor, the Winter Arc can work with attainable goals. Dr. Espada-Campos and Dr. Gallagher emphasized taking incremental steps over time. A few good places to start:
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Set smaller goals if you feel overwhelmed. “I set goals that were attainable,” Ms. Robinson said, adding: “I didn’t say, ‘I have to wake up at 5 a.m. every day.’ I know I can’t wake up at 5 a.m. every day.”
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Prioritize actions that make you feel your best. The Winter Arc, Dr. Espada-Campos said, can be “about prioritizing the positive.” That could be early morning workouts, or it could be a nightly hot chocolate.
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Don’t beat yourself up over missing a daily goal. The mindset that guides people through the Winter Arc can be applied at any time of year.
“The 80-20 rule is something that I value — which is 80 percent on track and doing all the great things, and 20 percent giving yourself some ease and some peace,” Ms. Jordan said. “That’s the way to your sustainable life.”
It’s not necessarily “just a one-and-done sort of thing,” Mr. Nabulsi said, but ideally a step toward long-term changes.
Dr. Espada-Campos has begun to use the idea of the Winter Arc with some of her patients, keeping the concept open-ended.
“The way that we’re using it, really, in the clinical sense, is as that support tool,” she said. “Let’s use this as a coping strategy. Let’s talk about what you can do to prioritize you, so that you feel good.”
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