What is the ‘winter arc’ challenge on TikTok?

While browsing your For You Page on TikTok, you may have come across videos referencing the viral ‘winter arc’ challenge.

As the temperatures drop, it’s easy to associate winter with cozy evenings spent under blankets, sipping hot tea, and binge-watching your favorite shows. However, a new trend on TikTok is flipping that idea on its head.

Instead of embracing hibernation mode, TikTokers are turning the last three months of the year into a time to get a head start on their goals, setting themselves up for success before January even begins.

Enter the ‘winter arc’ challenge, a trend that has been circulating in fitness circles for a while but recently exploded in popularity. Carly Berges, a 27-year-old self-development influencer, sparked this surge by posting a video about starting her own winter arc to improve herself by the end of the year.

Her video has now garnered over 4.3 million views, leading to a spike in searches on Google. On TikTok, over 291,000 videos have been made under the hashtag for the trend. So, what exactly is the ‘winter arc’ challenge?

Winter arc challenge explained

As Carly explains, the idea is to start on October 1st and use the next three months (90 days) to focus intensely on your goals, personal growth, and development.

“By the time the new year rolls around, you’re already coming out a whole other beast,” she says, emphasizing the aim to outgrow your old self and step into a new version of you.

For participants, the goal is to treat October 1st as their new January 1st. While most people slow down and ease up as the days grow shorter and colder, those taking on the winter arc challenge push forward.

They aim to develop new mental, spiritual, and physical habits that will help them become “unrecognizable” in the best way possible by the end of the year. It’s about using the season not as an excuse to pause but as a time to up-level and become the best version of yourself.

TikTokers doing the challenge have shared videos of themselves working out, eating healthier, journaling, shaving their heads, and more.

The trend is very similar to TikTok’s viral ‘October theory,’ which suggests that people feel similarly about October 1st as they do about January 1st, treating it as a symbolic fresh start.