I Tried TikTok's Winter Arc Challenge For 30 Days
It’s just me, my Stanley cup, and the new year.
The whole “new year, new me” thing is nice in theory, but it’s hard keeping up with resolutions every January. Roughly 88% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned within the first two weeks of the year, which is pretty accurate for me.
In 2024, I made a promise to myself to be more active, save money, and travel. While I managed to accomplish one of the three, with trips to places like Salem, Massachusetts, I let my wellness and financial goals slip a bit. But thanks to my “winter arc,” I’m ready to crush them.
Winter arc is a term coined by TikTok — with over 609,000 posts — to describe getting a jumpstart on New Year’s resolutions. “Life Upgrade Mentor” Carly Berges (@carlyupgraded) says there are “different interpretations” of the trend It’s been widely used by gym-goers who want to up their workouts, but the version taking over my FYP is all about using the time before the new year to get into healthy habits.
What makes the winter arc different from regular New Year’s resolutions is that you start before Jan. 1. While it’s a commonly-held belief that it takes about two weeks for a new habit to become routine, Amanda Cassil, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and author of The Self-Care Plan for the Highly Sensitive Person, says there’s actually no specific time it takes to form a habit.
The key is to move toward change whenever you feel inspired and motivated.
“It’s a nice idea to think we can set a timeline to creating habits, but the truth is that the timeframe for something to feel normalized and integrated into your life will change based on a variety of variables,” she says. This includes stress, energy, finances, and support from friends and family. Instead of going full force into a new you for 2025, Cassil says to take it slow with small, consistent changes.
So in theory, a winter arc is possible. You just have to be more realistic with what you want to bring into 2025. With this in mind, I set out to try TikTok’s new challenge for 30 days. Here are the goals I hoped to achieve, my routine, and how well I did in keeping up with it.
Day 1: November 15, 2024
Most of my resolutions for 2025 are the same as 2024. I want to be more active, healthy, financially responsible, and have my apartment feel like a home. My winter arc goals include:
- Drink at least 100 ounces of water a day (or three Stanley cups).
- Get in at least 10,000 steps a day.
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
- Go one hour a day without my phone.
- Make my bed each morning.
- Only order food delivery once a week.
- Set a cleaning day each week for my apartment.
- Do my full skin care routine morning and night.
Drinking more water is the easiest habit for me to get into since I already own a few emotional support water bottles (aka ESWB) at home. All I needed to do was make sure to fill up my Stanley cup each morning.
It also isn’t hard doing my skin care routine since I’ve been acne-prone since middle school and have always had to take care of myself. However, I’m taking it a step further by double cleansing, making time for masks, extra serums, and using my Solawave red light therapy wand more regularly. I also added Kendall Jenner’s teeth whitening pen to my nighttime routine so I can have a glowing smile in the new year as well. Everything else requires a little more energy to get to.
My Winter Arc Essentials
Day 6: November 20, 2024
My winter arc was derailed a bit thanks to a seasonal cold. It halted my goal of walking at least 10,000 steps a day, having an extensive self-care routine, and cleaning my apartment once a week. I also ended up ordering DoorDash most days I was sick since I didn’t have the energy to cook for myself. But I did go hard on drinking water and sleeping — so I consider that a win.
I wasn’t too hard on myself these days since I couldn’t help being under the weather, but I was worried that pausing some of these habits would make my winter arc less effective. However, Cassil reassured me that it’s OK to go at your own pace. “The key is to move toward change whenever you feel inspired and motivated,” she says.
Day 21: December 5, 2024
Each of my goals has a different level of success. I’m consistently drinking water, doing my skin care routine, and putting my phone away for at least one hour a day, so I would say those are winning habits. However, I’ve bailed on making my bed and still need to work on getting my steps and sleep in. Even though TikTok claims the winter months are the best time of the year to start your wellness goals because everything slows down, it doesn’t seem to be the case for me. The entertainment industry ramps up in November and December because of awards season in January, which
Living in Los Angeles, California, I have events happening every night (awards season is near!) with fast-approaching deadlines before the winter break. It’s hard getting to bed at a reasonable hour and find time to go for a walk when there are red carpets and press screenings. Plus, I’m trying to see all my friends before they leave town for the holidays. As much as I dreamed of doing cozy cardio after work, the sun setting at 5 p.m. ruined that for me. My solution is to ask for an early Christmas gift from my family, a walking pad, and get my steps in that way.
The one habit that has become a true game-changer so far is setting a cleaning day for my apartment. Once a week, I set a timer for at least an hour, put on my headphones, and just clean. It’s a tip I took from TikTok, and is less overwhelming when I give myself a time limit and a good podcast or Spotify playlist to keep me entertained as I do dishes, vacuum, and break down boxes to recycle. It may not be a deep clean of everything, but those small changes make a world of difference. Sometimes, I even have the energy to go beyond my timer and tackle laundry and organizing my closet.
Day 25: December 9, 2024
I traveled home to Florida, which slightly threw off my winter arc but not as much as when I was sick. Since I’ve been so consistent with drinking more water and doing my skin care, those have become solid habits for me now. I haven’t been able to catch a break with my sleep, though.
Day 30: December 14, 2024
At the end of my winter arc challenge, I stuck with some habits, dropped others right away, and want to try again with the rest. I’ve been successful in drinking water, going phone-free, and keeping up with my self-care routines and they’ll be easy to continue into 2025. I also love my cleaning hour once a week — that has been my favorite habit I’ve inherited.
Now that I have a walking pad that I can use while working, my steps are starting to increase each day. I also want to keep up with only ordering delivery once a week, even though that’s been kind of hard with my current schedule. As far as fails go, I’ve given up on making my bed. I’m just not a Pinterest-worthy bed girly, and that’s fine. It’s cozy and ready for me to jump into, which is more my style.
Speaking of my bed, I really want to be more consistent with my sleep — that’s my focus next. Cassil says her tip for creating healthy habits is to set a theme for your year, and add in goals throughout that help you achieve that. My theme for 2025 is to feel better. I have the water and skin care down pat, so resting is next up.
TL;DR: Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
Keeping myself focused on one small goal at a time is a lot easier than a laundry list of habits to start forming. While TikTok may think the cozy vibes of winter are a great time to be productive, that’s just not for me.
Licensed clinical psychologist Amanda Cassil, PhD, says following your own pace rather than the FYP is the way to go. “Don’t let other people, no matter how popular they are on TikTok, dictate what health looks like for you or what goals you should be pursuing,” she says. “It’s all about what flow and mindset works well for you.”
After 30 days of this challenge, I’ve realized I’m more of a year arc person, with gradual seasonal changes. I may not be in full transformation mode by Jan. 1, but I’ve made progress toward who I want to be in 2025 with motivation to keep going.
Expert sources cited:
Amanda Cassil, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and author of The Self-Care Plan for the Highly Sensitive Person
