How people are embracing winter arc without burning out

Have you ever been locked out?

No, it’s not about finding yourself locked in the elevator or the bathroom.

We’re talking about locking IN, a phrase you may have seen on social media lately or heard from people.

Locking in is focusing; Enduring short-term pain for long-term gain, whether it’s improving your body or your business. Do it today, not tomorrow. Everything else is a distraction.

Motivational and ironic videos feature the phrase, which has been searched online more than ever this year, according to Google. So how exactly do people get locked in, and does it help or hinder them?

“My generation likes to romanticize things,” says Dani, a 20-year-old student at the University of Manchester.

“I think being locked in is a romantic way of getting into your deep work and deciding like, ‘okay, it’s time to get things done.'” He compares it to tunnel vision.

In his case, it’s a marathon revision session that lasts until 3 a.m. before 10 hours in exam labs the next day. His phone was on silent; electro beats were humming in the background; digestive biscuits were swallowed.

As the nights have progressed and the days have grown colder in recent weeks, some influencers are telling their followers to stop missing out on summer and see this as the perfect opportunity to embrace the winter season.

“I think it comes from TV shows and anime where there are characters that are villain personas,” Dani says. He thinks feeling like you’re on a transformative journey will help you stay on track with the tasks necessary to achieve your goals.

Karagii agrees. He turned his passion for gaming into a source of income and now works as a professional content creator in this industry; He locked himself into it.

For her, the statement also serves as a personal rallying cry for the sexism she faces “almost every day” while playing online games.

Since his streams can last 11 hours, he needs to make sure he eats regularly and spends time away from the keyboard; she’s usually watching anime, playing with her cat, or reading a book.

The 29-year-old actress says the comments she received ranged from the condescending “you’re good for a girl” to the derogatory “go back to the kitchen.”

“I tell myself ‘I need to lock down’ so [I remember] “I can play as well as anyone else,” he tells me from his home in Surrey.

“Also, remind myself that I need to be a role model for the young women who follow me.”

This struggle with acceptance was also something Emma felt about joining the gym — but she found a way to overcome it.

Initially, she exercised at home and reduced the calories in her diet because she felt she needed to fit a certain gym-goer image.

Now 28-year-old Emma thinks it’s counterproductive and unnecessary.

After a year of training at home, he eventually joined a gym and enjoyed the physical and mental development of lifting weights.

So much so that he started working as a personal trainer in Lancashire this year and finds one of the best ways to stay focused is to set realistic and achievable goals.

Having a methodical plan and clear structure can help you get started, but he warns that getting too locked in can burn out.

“It’s completely normal and I think people need to be reassured that it’s part of the process and that you can’t be motivated all the time, 365 days a year,” he says.

Emma says there are ways to prevent burnout. These include refreshing your exercise routine, trying a new fitness class, or taking on a challenge for a short period of time, such as cycling a certain number of miles per month.

“Accountability also goes a long way when your motivation is low,” he adds. Working with a friend for your workout can help encourage you to do them more regularly.

Linguist Adam Aleksic, who posts online as Etymology Nerd, says the origin of locking is uncertain, but its use appears to have begun in the early 2000s, especially in the African-American community. There is an Urban Dictionary reference dating back to 2009.

But whether it’s a motivational video for gains at the gym or a meme about an ironically lazy cat, it only took off online last year.

“The more a meme is re-adapted and reused, the better chance it has of becoming embedded in our literal lexicon,” the 24-year-old actor explains.

Despite this, lockdown did not make the word of the year lists for 2025. Collins’ word of the year was: “feeling coding”during “parasocial” It was Cambridge Dictionary’s.

In addition to using it to motivate themselves, Dani and her course mates often use the phrase lockdown in a light-hearted way.

Some days they are all working on the same project in the same computer lab at the university. Telling a friend to focus on a potentially boring day often brings a smile.

“There is something that connects us all,” says Dani. “I never realized it was slang, considering how much we use it.”

After a 10-hour day in the labs two weeks ago, Dani indulged her love for art; This is something he does to stop burnout.

“My friend and I were painting until 4 in the morning after the exam,” he said. They are locked.