With the holiday season already upon us, it’s not too late to regain a little bit of balance - rather than diving headfirst in and letting everything go.

At Agent HQ, we, and our founder Jena, are big fans of the sobriety and sober curious movement and here are our six tips to go sober for the holiday season. We are pretty sure you will come out the other side feeling better than ever.

Let’s go:

1. You’ll look damn good & your skin will really thank you - when you cut the alcohol, one of the first things you get back is your physical health. The levels of oxidative stress, free radicals and inflammation will decrease. Your body will be able to start focusing on the job of ‘living and flourishing’ rather than fighting off the toxin levels that your body is trying to process and remove from your body. In not too long at all, your skin will start to glow, your eyes will become brighter and your body weight will regulate (no more binges - food or drink!).
   
   All in all, you’ll look better - and people will notice. We’re talking from experience here, so what better time than cutting out the alcohol before Christmas, the holiday season and New Year’s Eve and getting on the health bandwagon before 2022 comes around.
   
   
2. You’ll learn to be totally comfortable just being yourself - removing alcohol isn’t just about stopping being drunk. It’s also about helping you to become more comfortable in your own skin. It’s also about learning to come home to yourself and being able to walk into a party without having to distract, avoid, or make things ‘easier’ by drinking.
   
   Sobriety is an amazing opportunity to allow you to get to know yourself better - to work out why sometimes going to some events ‘sober’ or on your own feels so uncomfortable, or why we feel the need to be the life and soul of the party - or to let everything get a bit crazy. Shifting towards sobriety - or even sober curious, will help you understand that you need to learn to be more comfortable in your own skin - and what is sexier than that?
   
   
3. Regulate your nervous system & reduce the family arguments - being back in our childhood and family homes with our loved ones can be triggering for so many of us. It can often push us into a state of nervous system dysregulation and bring up traumatic memories from our subconscious mind that our nervous system fights hard for us to forget.
   
   Removing alcohol reduces the likelihood of our nervous system dysregulating (think anxiety, being hot-headed, lashing out, etc) because we can maintain an element of emotional regulation and remove ourselves from any situation that is too heated before it’s too late.

1. It will direct you towards the people that are good for you - without alcohol, we often remove our ‘good time pals’ that never want us to go home, don’t want us to go to bed and want us to keep drinking with them.
   
   By taking on a decision to be sober this holiday season, you’ll be focusing on quality time with your loved ones - and if someone isn’t up for spending non-alcohol fuelled time with you? Then maybe they aren’t the type of friend that should be hitting the top tier of your friendship circle.
   
   
2. You’ll regain control over the next day and your health will thank you for it - no canceled brunch plans, no lying on the sofa all day binge eating. Cutting the alcohol also means cutting the hangovers (assuming you get enough sleep) and what better way to actually enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones than actually being present, mindful and balanced, rather than pushing your body into panic mode as it tries to clear the damage, inflammation and oxidative stress from the night before? 

1. See sobriety as an added benefit - not a restriction. Just like anything, if you tell yourself you ‘aren’t allowed’ to drink or eat something, you will want it more - and there is nothing less fun than spending the whole of the holiday season longing for a drink, just because you can’t have one. Go into the holiday season seeing this as a benefit.
   
   A more in-control, happier and healthier you - that doesn’t need to rely on alcohol to get through in one piece. What better gift could you give yourself this Christmas? 
   

Have we sold you yet? If you couldn’t tell - we’re a big fan of spending the holiday season sober and think we are going to see more and more people doing this too over the coming years.

Removing the alcohol doesn’t have to be boring though - the market is now booming with all kinds of replacements - whether they are low alcohol, no alcohol, CBD-fuelled, and more. If a gin and tonic, or a good cocktail, is one of your happy things in life - you don’t have to remove these totally, you can just switch them up a little bit.

We are always obsessed with Jena’s product recommendations and she is obsessed with a rad brand called Ghia. In Ghia’s words, they keep you ‘over the influence, clear eyed and high minded’ with a ‘non-alcoholic aperitif inspired by the mediterranean’).

Ghia is made with natural juice (extracted from the riesling grape).

The natural juice is then combined with a selection of herbs, extracts and botanicals. It’s a super complex nonalcoholic drink (nothing boring here) and it is layered with nuanced flavors of ginger, rosemary, gentian root, yuzu juice, fig concentrate, elderflower and orange peel.

Jena picks up her Ghia from Erewhon - but you can also buy it online here.

To a sober, and sexy, holiday season - for you and all of those around you - from all of us at Agent Nateur. 

***THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR REGULATED BY THE FDA.  WE ARE NOT DOCTORS, THEREFORE ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR FIRST.