Dry January Pt. 3: God May Know Your Heart, But Your Liver Feels All Your Choices
Why is it that humans need something drastic to happen before they decide to make a change?
Could it be that perhaps we feel invincible in our youth, visibly affected by nothing, and assume that our body can recover from anything we throw at it?
Or is it something else?
Maybe it's more about the way we treat symptoms...like they're some sort of nuisance instead of intelligent cries for attention?
And instead of listening, we learn at an early age to silence them?
In Part 3 of our Dry January Series, we're going to explore how your liver is affect by lifestyle and what you can do to give it even more love. Because while you may not know it now, it's ALWAYS speaking to you.
So today, we'll go over how to listen and be more supportive to the lifestyle patterns that affect it.
How much you sleep, how often you move, how long stress hangs around in your body, and whether you regularly pause to check in with yourself, all play a part in your overall health.
During Dry January, you have a powerful opportunity to look at the bigger picture and ask, “Which daily habits make it easier for my liver to do its job, and for me to feel like myself again?”
Let's explore...
Reflection Time - Our Favorite Place To Start
You promise yourself you'll go to bed earlier, move more, or even eat cleaner, but by the end of the week you find a long list of un-done things and a lot of frustration that you didn't follow through...again.
Making time for reflection offers a chance to notice where you may be getting stuck.
What excuses keep coming up?
What emotions cause you to fall off track?
Is there fear, doubt, worry, or worthiness getting in the way?
Notice what habits support your energy and your mood. Can you do more of that?
And when you catch yourself in the middle of making the SAME mistake again, what can you do to course-correct before you fall off-track again?
By making time to address these patterns, and choose a better response for when the situation arises, you're better prepared to avoid sabotage in your future.
Next, let's get into the nuts and bolts of your lifestyle and how to make small shifts for better health.
Sleep Is The Time When Your Liver Plays Catch Up
Sleep is one of the main windows for repair and rebalancing. Don't muck it up.
While you rest, your body adjusts hormones, processes experiences, and carries out many of the behind‑the‑scenes tasks that keep you functioning. So when sleep is consistently brief or fragmented, your body has less time for this essential maintenance work.
This deficit can cause a ripple effect that impacts blood sugar regulation, appetite signals, mood, and overall metabolic health. And these are all factors that influence how your liver functions.
If you are doing Dry January and still going to bed at 1 a.m., you're sending mixed signals to your liver.
Exhaustion isn't just about a lack of sleep, it's about a deficit in effective recovery of ALL systems.
You can support this vital process by setting a realistic “lights down” time for most nights by cutting off screen usage, dimming the lights, and practicing a movement wind-down practice that releases the tension and soothes your nervous system.
Treating this as a non-negotiable part of your detox journey will tell your body it's safe to relax...sans alcohol...and that you are listening.
Which then gives room for recovery and healing to occur.
Chronic Stress Is Not Your Friend
When your nervous system is stuck in fight–flight mode, digestion slows down to create more energy for your 'battle.'
This can lead to blood sugar can spikes, and the resulting crash, more easily.
In this state, your body prioritizes survival over long‑term repair. Which is why it's SO important to get out of it as soon as you can.
Over time, this state becomes a habit and this digestion deficit can make it harder for your liver to keep everything in balance...even IF your diet looks good on paper.
No matter how locked in your nutrition is, if you're in a daily habit of chronic stress, your digestion won't be efficient enough to take in the full effects of those nutrients.
To support your nervous system and your digestive power, you don't have to eliminate ALL stress. Instead, you can retrain your body to deal with and manage stress in real time.
Try taking a Breath-Break.
Step away, pause, and simply focus on your breath for 60 seconds.
Stretch, touch grass, lift your face to the sun.
Notice how your body is carrying the stress: jaw, shoulders, gut. Then place your hand over it and say, "I hear you. You are safe. I'll take it from here."
Be cautious not to supress emotional expression. Tears, laughter, and honest conversations can be very soothing and healing to everyone involved.
When your nervous system feels safer, your digestion and liver function are more likely to follow suit.
Process The Day With Movement
Your liver does a lot of processing on its own, but it works within a larger circulation and lymph system that all depend on movement.
Long periods of sitting with little physical activity can slow the natural flow of fluids and leave you feeling stagnant, both physically and emotionally.
If you find yourself getting stressed often, it may be an indication that your 'flow' is backed up and you need to shake it off.
Literally.
No need for extremes here. A simple 10-20 minute walk, a little yoga to open up the rib cage and torso, or a dance break will do the trick.
Emotional processing is much more than just talking it out. It's about understanding how those emotions sit in your body, get stored in your joints and connective tissues, and how you can MOVE them out for processing and release.
Movement helps your body cycle through stress, supports metabolic health, and encourages the kind of internal flow the liver thrives in.
Create Healthier Habits Through Self-Awareness
This is where the Three Question Journal from Intelligent Change becomes a powerful ally.
Each day, you're guided to answer three questions in the morning and three in the evening. The questions are designed to help you identify both your strengths and blind spots in a compassionate way, non-critical way.
Instead of trying to overhaul your entire lifestyle, you're engaging in a gentle, daily feedback loop. You begin to notice which habits leave you feeling lighter, clearer, and more grounded—and which ones leave your body feeling heavy, wired, or depleted.
That sort of awareness makes liver‑supportive choices feel less rigid and more like fluid extensions of how you want to feel.
Turning Awareness Into Habits
Dry January is a powerful container for experimenting with liver‑friendly lifestyle shifts. Your aim is not perfection; it's learning.
If Dry January is your way of saying “I want to feel clearer, lighter, and more like myself,” try creating lifestyle habits that will flood out positively into the whole year.
Start with one or two small changes in sleep, stress, or movement, and pair them with a few minutes of daily reflection.
You don't have to wait for something drastic to happen before you make a big change. Small, daily changes with shift how you see yourself, help you meet your patterns with compassion, and create lifestyle habits your liver—and your whole being—can thrive in.