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"  Of all the things in the world I don&amp;#039;t understand\u2014Jazzercise, people who forget to eat lunch, why my grandmother knows how to email but my mother refuses to learn to text\u2014the idea of the new year starting in January holds a place near the top of the list.   I suppose there&amp;#039;s some technical, calendar-related reason why the year ends on the last day of December, but from a practical perspective, it&amp;#039;s a lousy idea. Think about it\u2014what says &amp;quot;new year!&amp;quot; less than the endless, often-dreary slog that is January? How are you supposed to get motivated for self-reflection, self-improvement and healthy eating when, for those of us living with winter, it gets dark at four in the afternoon, fresh vegetables look a little sketchy, and all you really want to do is curl up in your sweatpants with a bowl of stew and watch bad reality TV?   Anyone who&amp;#039;s ever set foot in a classroom knows the truth: No matter what the calendar says, the real start of the new year comes in September. Early fall is back-to-school season, replete with the potential for reinvention. Every year when I was growing up, there was a new classroom, a new teacher, some new classmates; sometimes, a whole new school. And every year, I&amp;#039;d have the chance to get it right.   Maybe if I wore the same oxford shirt and denim skirt as the cool girls, they&amp;#039;d recognize that, in spite of my nerdy exterior (and interior), I was really cool, and they&amp;#039;d be my friends!   This, of course, never happened, even with the right outfit (or my frugal mother&amp;#039;s sale version of it). I&amp;#039;d never be pretty, or preppy, one of those beaming ponytailed cheerleaders prancing through the halls in a pleated gold-and-navy skirt (please note: I am now friends with all these girls on Facebook, where we talk about our kids and post vacation pictures, so it&amp;#039;s all good).   In spite of 12 years&amp;#039; worth of failed efforts, even at 40, I still cling to the magic of September\u2014the first-day-of-school sensation of new beginnings and renewed possibilities.   Early-fall weather is usually gorgeous: warm enough for outdoor pursuits, but with a crisp, warning, winter&amp;#039;s-coming-soon bite that reminds you, as the start of a new year should, that your time is limited, that you should savor every golden hour before the cold and the dark send you back to your den. You&amp;#039;ve hung up your sundresses and put the swimsuits back in the drawer, putting your wardrobe\u2014and mind\u2014on notice that summer&amp;#039;s long, sunny, aimless days are over, and it&amp;#039;s time to buckle down and get to work again.   If you&amp;#039;ve got kids, September sends them on their way, back to nursery school or high school or off to college (or if they&amp;#039;re college graduates, September brings them back home to you again, but that&amp;#039;s another story). If you&amp;#039;re a TV devotee, your prime-time programs are back on the air. Between those two things, September fills me with energy and optimism, big plans and bigger dreams. It&amp;#039;s the time when I&amp;#039;m most likely to take up a new form of exercise\u2014I&amp;#039;ve tried everything from hot-room yoga to boot camp\u2014or let a friend talk me into some athletic endeavor I&amp;#039;d never have considered on my own (a 10-mile race? A sprint triathlon? I&amp;#039;m in!). The fall makes it all seem possible. I&amp;#039;m motivated to clean my closets, to go through the junk drawer in the kitchen and donate outgrown baby clothes and defunct cell phones. With the farmers&amp;#039; market bursting with harvest bounty, I&amp;#039;ll buy something I&amp;#039;ve never seen before\u2014a delicata squash, a whole duck\u2014and build a meal around it.   It&amp;#039;s paradoxical, I know. Fall represents the end of things: the summer, and the year drawing to a close. But for anyone who remembers that sensation of optimism and excitement\u2014the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and new shoes, the terror and thrill of walking into a new classroom\u2014September is when things really begin. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a5024/get-a-fresh-start-this-fall-109624/>