The winter months, especially in New England, bring the cold, windy, sleepy days that leave many of us lazing around without much to do, save for Christmas shopping, which is also our only, however great, stress. Many of us grow slow and gluttonous with Thanksgiving dinners and leftovers that last forever, bookended by the mass quantities of candy and other sweets consumed on Halloween and Christmas. But recently, people have begun jump ship from this lethargic winter hibernation, usually interrupted only briefly by the boom of health-based New Year’s resolutions that inevitably fizzle out after a few weeks, in favor of getting ahead of the game, and starting their new routine, their new Year in a way, 2-3 months early. This trend, nicknamed the “Winter Arc”, has become extremely pervasive on social media over the past few months and is beginning to properly take shape, especially for young people. But as it grows more and more in popularity, it begs the question: Are you in your Winter Arc? Should you be? The Winter Arc is an opportunity for people to get back in control of their lives, and with the main demographic for it being young men, works primarily by laser-focusing on going to the gym, starting to journal, quitting any vices, working on a new skill, and cutting off harmful people in your life. This is a fantastic balance to maximize physical as well as mental health, and sounds like an excellent formula for a good life, let alone just the winter months. But some interpretations of the winter arc, the ones that achieve virality among the young men most strictly following it, include arbitrary and at times seemingly harmful practices. These include things like shaving one’s head, and purposefully not talking to anyone, not just but in fact especially people that you may be romantically interested in. Unsurprisingly, this means there’s also a pervasive pull for Winter Arc adherents to fall into some of the same issues that plague the rest of the fitness community at large, as well as embracing the dangerous ideas of the manosphere, becoming a sort of seasonal Redpill. Any community or movement geared toward self-improvement, especially one with an audience primarily consisting of young men, is bound to be a veritable breeding ground for grifters. The Winter Arc, with its mix of emphasis on the gym as well as a kind of ascetic self-denial, is the perfect opportunity to be pounced on by the sort of alpha-male/sigma-male “modern Stoicism” content farms that have become so popular, and harmful, to many young men of this generation. The ease with which the Winter Arc can be co-opted to push a lone-wolf, overly-Stoic machismo ideology is palpable, and dangerous. Almost any alpha male grifter already has physical fitness as a core element of what their idea of a man is, and heavily belittles and emasculates any man that does not adhere to that, even the ones that they would claim to be trying to motivate. The Winter Arc’s heavy emphasis on “locking in” and going to the gym every day with no excuses only exacerbates the opportunities for this kind of shaming to happen. This, paired with the ascetic aspects of the Winter Arc, provide ample space for the kind of “no emotions only cold rationality” doctrine often espoused by these creators as well. Those looking to start their Winter Arc should look out for these kinds of ideas being mixed in with the otherwise deeply beneficial practices of the Winter Arc. Ultimately, I believe that the Winter Arc is a powerful tool that can be easily misused. There is something very meaningful about consciously dedicating the final months of the year to profound self-improvement and self-discipline in all spheres of your life, and for that the Winter Arc should never be dismissed or relegated merely to the status of a trend. But it can be dangerous. Like any aim at self-improvement, there is always the risk of self-righteousness, and, more worryingly, self-destruction. It’s also integral to be wary of the grifters and ideology pushers that may use the Winter Arc as a thin veil to cover their misogynistic and egoistic ideas. Are you in your Winter Arc? Should you be? Well, when adhered to in its original form, the Winter Arc can be an invaluable resource to get oneself back in check, and get a head start to ensure that their New Year’s resolutions don’t fall by the wayside