Unwanted Opinions: Did we all experience the October canon event?
From breakups to existential crises, the October canon event shows mercy to none.
T
his past month I was convinced I was plagued by bad luck. I’m talking about the type of bad luck that has you looking for hidden cameras. Despite a pretty sturdy immune system, I was ill for three weeks in a row. While usually pretty sure of myself, I was caught in the throes of a quarter-life crisis. And despite my track record of staying level-headed when it comes to romance (most of the time), I fell inexplicably hard for my latest situationship.
Was this some sort of bad karma? Had I done something terrible in my past life that was all coming back to haunt me in the space of a month?
Then, as it always does, TikTok provided an answer to my burning question. “Happy canon event month,” one video announced. “Good luck everybody.”
The internet theory goes that we will all inevitably experience some type of pivotal and life-altering event in October. This could be anything from a career crisis to the end of a five year relationship.
While the word ‘canon’ is derived from Ancient Greek, the term ‘canon event’ was popularised by the 2023 animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The film explores the idea that each Spider-Man, in every universe, must experience the same difficult yet formative moments in order for the multiverse to remain intact.
Since then, social media users have associated the term with the cold and cruel month of October.
To the less superstitious, this may sound ridiculous. How is it that everyone experiences a transformative moment every October? To better understand why the phenomena is so popular, I turned to psychotherapist and author, Eloise Skinner.
“Social media can often amplify and extend trends that resonate with certain groups of people, so the reinforcement of the algorithm is certainly one factor here,” she explains.
“But there could also be a sense of solidarity and community connection in the ability to relate one's personal life and challenges to others.”
She adds that seeing others share their struggles on social media encourages users to open up about their own experiences, helping these trends gain traction.
But there’s also some plausible logic behind October feeling like a time of change, shifts and challenges.
Eloise explains: “The first thing I'd think of is practical: seasonal change, clocks going back, different weather, shifts in biological rhythm, start of a new educational term, often the start of something new after a summer break, etc.”
“Changing patterns and routines or shifting existing working patterns and schedules can naturally bring some degree of challenge, and we might also be meeting many new people during this period as our schedules shift which can lead to challenges in personal or romantic relationships.”
She concludes that, with October marking the shift “away from summer and towards winter”, it can be easy to pinpoint the month as a moment of drastic change unlike mid-summer, for example.
Perhaps the internet is a little harsh on October. Despite the curse it brings each year, we’re still admittedly blessed with UGG weather, spiced pumpkin candles and Halloween. But do the supposed benefits really outweigh the upheaval of a breakup, redundancy or another life-altering event?
Personally, I’m ready to skip straight to November.
