There is a moment every year—usually sometime between the last glittering ornament being boxed away and the first sunrise of the new year—when I exhale in a way I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath. You may know that feeling too. It's knowing that the season has ended, the kitchen has quieted, and the great engine of my business has powered down just long enough to finally hear my own body again.
It’s relief and exhaustion braided together. Celebration and collapse.
A tenderness washes in, and I head straight for the beach, feet in sand and hands in the warm, droopy jowls of my bloodhounds. That alone is its own kind of healing.
January has always been, as Katherine May calls it, my “Wintering” month—the transition between who I am as a business owner and who I am when I return to Self. While the rest of the world sprints toward resolutions, I move toward restoration. For nearly twenty years, I’ve honored this moment with a cleanse I’ve sculpted slowly, season after season, into something that feels like home: a gentle recalibration, my ritual of letting go, clearing space, and feeding the deeper parts of myself that get lost in the chaos of running a business.
People hear “cleanse” and think deprivation. I envision expansion. Breath. The sacred invitation to return—mind, body, and spirit—to the truth of what supports me.
As a business owner, I’m sure you feel the call of your body, needing a reset, craving a return home. It’s a true testament to health, to living in wellness, that goes beyond trendy buzz words and fitting a mold. It’s a way of coming back home, to a place of recharge and renewal that gives us a sense of remembering, of why we chose to do this in the first place. It gives us clarity. It renews our hope.
Finding your path to wellness is a personal journey. There is no quick fix, no fad diet, no perfect answer. Nothing is absolute. Nothing is either/or, yet both/and. All I can offer is encouragement, support, and ideas that have worked for me and my clients over the years. But I also ask that you choose what fits you, and tailor your renewal to your body—by listening to what it needs.
As From Scratch Farm closes for the season, I finally have permission to rest. And rest, I’ve learned, is its own form of medicine. It reminds me that I’m a creature who needs tending. Rest is where I recharge for spring. Rest is where I can hear myself again.
When one part of us is out of alignment—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual—the imbalance eventually shows. January becomes my time to release what no longer serves me: unhealthy foods, dysfunctional habits, stale narratives, the quiet lies we justify when stressed or feeling unworthy. It’s when we step into Truth that we’re ready to release. Whatever you notice, honor it. Let your body speak.
Sometimes, the fix is simple. Brain fog? Remove alcohol for a bit. A sluggish gut? Try a sugar-free 30 days. Trouble sleeping? Retreat from caffeine, and heal with ginger tea. These small acts of self-love become the foundation for deeper renewal.
My own cleanse is simple but impactful: whole foods, clean proteins, no sugar, no gluten, no soy, no artificial anything, no caffeine. Hydration. Intentional movement. Sweat for detoxification. A fasting window that honors my rhythms. Magnesium. Minerals. Nutrients that repair, not just fuel.
I become more attuned to: my hunger, my thoughts, my impulses, my intuition. Noise lowers. Vision clears. I remember who I am beneath the apron and the business plan. I remember that wellness isn’t the absence of illness—it is the presence of wholeness.
By February, I feel stronger, clearer, ready to begin my year with a renewed sense of confidence, of purpose, of Self. My creativity and passion return. The old narrative of my own inabilities fade, and I’m restored to be the Leader that I am, guiding people back to earth, one garden, one class, one meal at a time.
Every person deserves their own version of this rebirth. Maybe your cleanse is a phone-free weekend. Maybe it’s two weeks of whole foods. Maybe it’s simply giving yourself permission to rest, breathe, and reevaluate before marching into a new year carrying old patterns.
The beauty of January is that it asks nothing more of you than where you’re at, right now.
In the stillness of winter, the answers rise—slowly, gracefully, from deep within, where they’ve been waiting all along.
What are you ready to let go of?
***For more information about my cleanse, visit my blog page at scratch-farm.com/blog-2-1.
"There is no quick fix, no fad diet, no perfect answer. Nothing is absolute. Nothing is either/or, yet both/and.”
“Wellness isn’t the absence of illness—it is the presence of wholeness.”
About the Author: Adriana Karagozian is the owner of From Scratch Farm, a chef, and sustainable grower dedicated to intentional cooking, holistic wellness, and helping people reconnect with the earth.