OPINION/HEALTH10 Don't waste time waiting for January. The new year starts
here, says Me columnist and Carlisle student Malin Nyberg
My
new year
A
s a girl, every summer holidays were
always the same. I would lie sleepless
at night in my grandparents' summer
house, fantasising about the
makeover I would go through before
going back to school.
What colour should I dye my hair ? What style
of clothes should I wear? Was it time to start
wearing my makeup differently? Maybe like Jane,
or Rebecca?
I dreamed of how a `Wow!' would come from my
course mates, when I entered the classroom on
the first day; how the popular girls would ask me
to hang out with them during lunch break � how
Mike in the year above mine would turn his head
as I passed him in the corridor.
Everything could happen during a summer's
holiday and many of us wanted to embrace those
months, coming back as completely new people.
The outcomes of my makeovers were, however,
never that great � one new pair of jeans and
highlighted hair hardly left anyone gobsmacked.
The funny thing is that it didn't bother me at all.
Once I was back behind my school desk, listening
to the teacher telling us what to expect from the
year ahead another kind of excitement built up
inside of me.
That, mixed with crispy air, yellow leaves, new
boys and girls as friends, indicated something
promising: A new beginning. A new year.
I have always argued that New Year should take
place at the end of summer rather than in winter.
It's like a bad joke waking up on January 1 with a
banging headache, staring at the pillow covered in
a way too glittery eye shadow.
Ordering a pizza for breakfast certainly doesn't
help. And just as we promise ourselves a start
with resolutions, we know it just won't happen.
After weeks packed with Christmas parties and
stressing around the shops for the perfect gift we
are exhausted.
Also, exactly how keen are we to jump straight
in to a gym fully packed of people with the same
resolution? Five minutes on the spinning machine
you discover how the Christmas pudding is still
having a party inside your stomach and all you
want is out.
In addition, you have had enough of the cold,
chilly, evil winter. Plus; you are very, very poor.
Excited to start the new year? Hell no.
Autumn, on the other hand, looks a lot more
promising.
To me summer is one big rehab, a bus stop to
reflect on what has happened since last year. What
you have achieved, who you have become. Once I
have figured that out I can't wait to get back to a
normal life with routines again.
Complaining about the summer heat, I start
dreaming of polo jumpers, IKEA block candles,
romantic walks and a new season of my favourite
TV show. I dream of thick, cosy duvets, how
cheesy dance tunes changes into men with guitars
on the radio.
I see myself buying books written by award-
winning authors rather than beach-friendly chick
lits and I am back to my regular coffee to go,
holding the paper mug in hands warmed by new,
pretty gloves. When the leaves finally turn red
and yellow I grab my camera in excitement,
making sure to catch the change by every
millimetre. But more than anything: I start my
new year.
So it might not be like it was back at school,
there is no Mike; no popular girls to impress
anymore, but the feeling I had behind my desk as
a young girl keeps coming back to me every fall.
All I need is to step outside; the air is different,
the light has changed. Shops are stocking up on
calendars, ready to be scribbled on with new time
tables, working hours, gym classes, dinner parties
and nights out.
In contrast to January, we are ready for it. Our
new year sets off when our batteries are charged.
My year 2009/10 begins here; in my new house
in Carlisle. I have moved in with my best friend
and we spent half of the summer planning how we
would decorate it.
Now, as October finally arrives, I am lighting
block candles from IKEA, shopping for bright red
cushions. I call the gym for an update on classes
and I buy notebooks, diaries, pens. And � OK, I
admit it � hair dye. It is autumn after all � and
autumn calls for chocolate brown.
So Happy New Year everyone, let it be a
sparkling, cosy, romantic and wonderful one.
starts here
Malin Nyberg: `Shops are
stocking up on calendars,
ready to be scribbled on with
new time tables, working
hours, gym classes, dinner
parties and nights out'
Changing seasons: `When the leaves finally
turn red and yellow I start my new year'
`So it might not be like it was back at school, there is no Mike; no
popular girls to impress anymore, but the feeling I had behind my
desk as a young girl keeps coming back to me every fall'

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12 Produced by PageSuite