It’s October. The leaves are changing, the weather is getting colder and apparently we’re all due for a major life-changing event. At least, that’s what TikTok wants us to believe.
If you’ve spent any time scrolling through your For You page lately, you’ve probably come across the term “October Canon Event.” According to social media, October is the month when relationships end, friendships fall apart, unexpected people enter your life and everything seems to change overnight.
But why October? Is there something about this particular month that makes us all experience the same emotional roller coaster? Or have we collectively convinced ourselves that something dramatic is bound to happen simply because TikTok says so?
For college students especially, October falls at an interesting point in the semester. The excitement of moving in, meeting new people and starting fresh has begun to fade. Midterms are approaching, routines are settling in and the people who seemed like permanent fixtures in our lives just a few weeks ago might suddenly feel a little more distant.
So, are we actually experiencing some universal October canon event, or are we just finding ways to connect our everyday experiences to a viral trend?
Wait, What Even Is a Canon Event?
Before we start blaming October for all our problems, let’s talk about what a canon event actually is.
The term gained popularity following the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, where canon events are significant moments that are supposedly meant to happen in every spider-person’s life, as GamesRadar+ explains in its breakdown of canon events in the film. The concept eventually made its way beyond the movie and into everyday internet culture, as discussed in USA Today’s explanation of the term. Naturally, TikTok took this concept and ran with it.
Now, a canon event can refer to almost anything. Getting your heart broken, making a questionable decision, losing a friendship or even going through an embarrassing phase that you swear you’ll never repeat.
The idea is that these experiences are unavoidable and somehow necessary for your personal development. Essentially, they’re the moments that shape who you become.
But somewhere along the way, the internet decided that October deserves its own category of canon events.
Search through TikTok and you’ll find people sharing their October experiences, warning others about what’s coming or joking about how their lives seem to fall apart around the same time every year.
And while these videos can be entertaining and relatable, they raise an interesting question: Why are we so quick to believe that an entire month is responsible for our personal problems?
The October Effect: When the Semester Gets Real
For college students, October can feel like a turning point.
Think about it. August and September are filled with excitement. Whether you’re a freshman experiencing college for the first time or a senior trying to make the most of your last year, the beginning of the semester often feels like a fresh start.
You have new classes, new routines and maybe even new friendships or relationships. Everything feels full of possibilities.
Then October arrives.
Suddenly, the assignments are piling up, midterms are around the corner and the motivation you had during syllabus week is nowhere to be found.
And it’s not just academics.
The friendships you made during the first few weeks of school might start to change. Maybe you realize that someone you thought you’d be close with isn’t actually your person. Maybe a “situationship” that seemed promising in September starts getting complicated. Or maybe you’re simply realizing that the version of college you imagined isn’t exactly the one you’re experiencing.
None of these experiences are particularly unusual. College is full of transitions, especially when you’re constantly meeting new people and figuring out where you belong.
But when all of these changes happen around the same time, it’s easy to understand why October gets a reputation for being emotionally chaotic.
My Own October Canon Event
I’ll admit, we haven’t even made it to the end of October and I already feel like I’ve had mine.
I remember that in September, I felt like I finally had everything figured out. I was getting comfortable with my classes, settling into my routine and feeling pretty confident about the people I had surrounded myself with.
But as October went on, things started to feel different. I had put my trust in people I thought had my back and believed my feelings were reciprocated, only to find myself questioning those connections.
Situations I thought I had left behind in September resurfaced in ways I never expected, and the actions of people I trusted made it harder to move on from things I thought I had already accepted.
On top of that, responsibilities started piling up, and I found myself feeling homesick and struggling to find the motivation to do anything.
It was truly a series of little moments that made me realize how quickly things can change, especially in college.
After seeing countless TikToks about the October canon event, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was October actually different, or was I just giving an ordinary college experience a dramatic title?
Is It Really Happening, or Are We Just Expecting It?
Here’s where things get interesting.
Have you ever learned a new word and suddenly started noticing it everywhere? Or thought about buying something and then felt like you were seeing that item everywhere – tempting you even more?
There’s actually a psychological explanation for this, commonly called the frequency illusion.
Once something catches our attention, we become more likely to notice it, even if it hasn’t actually become more common.
The October canon event might work in a similar way.
If you spend enough time watching videos about how October supposedly brings unexpected breakups, friendship drama and major life changes, you might start paying closer attention to anything that fits that narrative.
A friend cancels plans? October canon event.
Your situationship stops texting back? October canon event.
You have one bad week and suddenly start questioning every decision you’ve made since August? Definitely an October canon event.
But would you have interpreted these situations the same way if you hadn’t seen the trend?
This also connects to confirmation bias, our tendency to notice information that supports what we already believe while overlooking information that challenges it.
If you expect October to be dramatic, every inconvenience can feel like proof that the trend is real. Meanwhile, the perfectly normal days when nothing happens don’t exactly make for viral TikToks.
Social media can make this effect even stronger. When thousands of people share similar experiences, it creates the impression that everyone is going through the same thing.
And while it’s comforting to know you’re not alone, there’s a difference between finding community through shared experiences and convincing yourself that something bad is destined to happen.
Do We Really Need a Canon Event to Grow?
One of the most interesting parts of the canon event trend is the idea that difficult experiences are necessary for personal growth.
We’ve all heard some version of the saying that everything happens for a reason. And sometimes, looking back on a difficult situation can help us recognize how much we’ve learned.
Maybe losing a friendship taught you the importance of boundaries. Maybe a breakup helped you understand what you want in a relationship. Or maybe a stressful semester showed you that you’re capable of handling more than you thought.
There’s nothing wrong with finding meaning in those experiences.
But does every lesson really have to come from something painful?
Social media often romanticizes the idea of going through a difficult experience and emerging as a completely different person. We see videos about character development, personal transformations and becoming the best version of yourself after hitting rock bottom.
It can almost make heartbreak seem like a requirement for growth.
In reality, growth can happen in much quieter ways.
It can look like learning to enjoy your own company, becoming more comfortable saying no or finally finding a routine that makes you feel good.
Sometimes, it’s choosing to walk away from a situation before it becomes painful. Other times, it’s recognizing that you’re happy with where you are and allowing yourself to enjoy it.
You don’t need a dramatic plot twist to prove that you’re becoming a better version of yourself.
Maybe October Isn’t the Villain After All
At the end of the day, the October canon event trend is probably best understood as a combination of relatable experiences, seasonal transitions and the internet’s ability to turn almost anything into a shared storyline.
For some people, October really might bring major changes. For others, it might be a completely ordinary month filled with classes, coffee runs, football games and trying to figure out what to wear when it’s freezing in the morning and 80 degrees by the afternoon.
And that’s OK.
There’s something comforting about seeing strangers online describe feelings you’ve experienced yourself. It reminds us that the uncertainty of growing up isn’t something we’re navigating alone.
But we shouldn’t let a TikTok trend convince us that our lives are supposed to fall apart just because the calendar says October.
Your college experience doesn’t have to follow the same timeline as everyone else’s. Your friendships don’t have to end, your relationships don’t have to become complicated and your life doesn’t need a dramatic turning point every fall.
So, if October brings unexpected changes, give yourself the space to learn from them. And if nothing particularly eventful happens, don’t go analyzing your entire month waiting for something to happen.
Maybe the real October canon event isn’t losing someone, falling in love or experiencing a major plot twist.
Maybe it’s realizing that you’re allowed to grow without something going wrong first.