If you frequently scroll on TikTok, you might’ve recently encountered clips of young women waking up at five in the morning, hitting the gym, and showing off their healthy meals for the day.
Instead of one staying in their pajamas and eating their favorite sweet and savory comfort foods, Gen Z content creators are filming their self-improvement videos and challenging others to take part in the “Winter Arc” challenge.
The trend is centered around beginning your transformation period on Oct. 1 instead of after the New Year. While the challenge regards various facets of potential self-improvement, working on one’s physical health and physique seems to be a large part of the trend aesthetically.
For some women, going to the gym can be an anxiety-inducing task. What should I wear? What if I look like I don’t know what I’m doing? What if people stare?
These are all questions that may run through your mind and ultimately keep you from your gym “Winter Arc” goals – but I really hope not.
This trend is more than an opportunity to achieve your gym goals because it can also be about building self-confidence. I, too, struggle with feeling self-conscious at the gym, and I’m still working on overcoming it.
Whenever any insecurities have come up for me, whether it be because I’m worried about what I’m wearing or how I look doing an exercise, I try to remember what brought me there, so I decide to zero in on the workout, rather than consider what others may think of me.
Prioritizing my own needs and wants tends to make it easier for me to dismiss any thoughts of how I may be perceived. A “Winter Arc” can help students establish a routine if they’re new to college life, and it may even help those who struggle with seasonal depression.
There are too many possible benefits to experiencing a “Winter Arc” to sit out of going to the gym because you’re concerned with others’ opinions of you. If you want to go to the gym, please go. I promise you are not the only one who second guesses going because the thought of other people being there comes to mind.
Deciding to work on one’s discomfort of going to the gym, not only means that you may be physically stronger by New Year’s, but it also means that you may be an overall more confident person.