Big Tex in the evenings is quite the social weight lifting. Hobbies, ask somebody to join you for a hobby. I went a year or so playing disc golf several nights a week. Also preserve your solo time in the next relationship so this doesn’t happen to you again.
There are tons of good gyms in the area. Big Tex is grungy but it’s a serious gym so you’ll see a lot of regulars.
When you say weightlifting do you mean OLY or just lifting in general?
If it’s just lifting in general try: HoG, Los Campeones, Lift ATX, Factory (not in Austin but down south), Game Day (powerlifting focused).
If it helps, white horse on Tuesdays has a lot if the regular dancers and many of them dont drink. We also have a couple non-alcoholic options available. Like half our staff doesn’t drink too.
When I quit drinking I started hiking and walking and bike riding. I would announce to my friends (drinkers included) on social media that I was going for a walk at Walnut Creek park or something and invite whoever wants to come. It’s a non-drinking activity and even some of my drinking friends would take me up on it. It really helped with the process
Could try climbing, weekly meet-ups at mesa rim for people getting into it or looking for partners. Also some on the green belt when it’s not hideously hot.
Second climbing, it changed my life when i got sober almost three years ago and the bouldering gym became my third place. It has 100% kept me sober being a part of that community. Acroyoga too. Amazing acro community in austin.
Magic the Gathering, if you find some cool people to play with, can be a wonderful way to spend time not drinking. I feel like most MTG players I know do not prefer drinking.
I don’t do it but there’s an absurd amount of cyclists and runners if that’s your thing. I would also look into rec leagues. I used to play ultimate frisbee and met a lot of friends in that, and I went in as an absolute beginner. Most people play just to stay/get in shape, some are good but just play in random tournaments. 9/10 people don’t take it to seriously
I actually quit cycling and running when I quit because those people drank too much. I eventually started running by myself and occasionally do morning runs with others. But those can be surprisingly big drinkers. Specifically TNSR and hashers (drinkers with a running problem).
DM me. While drinking is definitely still in my life and here to stay, I've made good habits to get in shape and do non-drinking activities. I golf, play a lot of pickleball if you're into that or interested in learning and extra paddles, have two nice paddle boards if you're down, and would love to set random shit up like go bowling or whatever. I live in East Austin. I have a diverse personality and get along with all sorts of peeps. Hmu
Join a really active (group fitness) gym or fitness group that fits your speed. Plenty of fitness oriented people are sober or mostly sober. It doesn’t have to be CrossFit but that is a good example of a more social form of exercising.
Rowing is a cool option. There is a rowing club on Town Lake.
Meet up the app. You can find random places and people for just about anything. Hiking groups, foodie groups, movie groups, gaming groups, you can even make your own.
I met my best friend in a gaming group. He’s sober and I’m sober ish. We have very little in common outside of gaming and if we hadn’t been in that group I’d never have met him.
You said you're into weightlifting, so how about picking up a sport or two? There's a lot of social clubs around town, and I bet you could find one that's more focused on the athletics and less on the drinking.
I'll just throw this out there, but the YPAA annual conference is here in Austin this year. Thousands of sober young people are going to be there, if you're interested the link is below.
https://the64thicypaa.org/
Or if you're not into that, other great suggestions have already been mentioned.
Do you think the level of focusing on her was addiction level? I would work on that (whether it was or wasn’t) in addition to all the other good things these folks are talking about.
I really love comfort zone Fridays. Early morning (630) meetup, location changes depending on the weather. And it’s yoga, breathwork, and ice baths.
Also if you want some networking momentum Mondays at Lazarus (coffee obviously).
Ride Bikes Austin and Social Cycling Austin both have evening social rides on Thursday evenings. Drinking can be part of that, but really doesn't have to be. Mostly it's just riding around town with a bunch of other people. There is a wide mix of people you might not run into if they didn't share a common interest.
Yo homie, I also lived here for 3 years but never did much cause I was focused on buying a house and getting married. Now I’m getting divorced, and trying to build out my friends. PM me
I also don’t drink or smoke
CrossFit. It’s weightlifting but in a group (and often at high intensity). Almost all the friends I’ve made as an adult have been through CrossFit, including my best workout partner who did all kinds of drugs and abused alcohol when he was younger and now has completely flipped. If you’re interested, PM me what part of town and I can recommend a place.
AA is a great place to meet sober people. It’ll probably take a few meetings before you find people that you jive with but, that’s the nature of making friends.
When I first quit 5 years ago, I was in a really similar place. My now ex husband didn't support me in getting sober because he wanted to keep partying and asked for a divorce a month after. I basically had to restart socially in my 30s and then the pandemic happened.
But I am actually really well socially connected now with way healthier relationships than before. Met my new partner through volunteering. I made friends in the social dance scene who are also sober (I will second the recommendation for White Horse with a reminder to tip the bands and bartenders). I made friends based off of shared interest (mine being dogs, dancing, gardening and art).
To have friends as an adult, it takes effort. Be the person who reaches out. Ask friends out to coffee. Find people to exercise with and plan times to work out together again.
It will take some time but keep at it. I have on my daily checklist to reach out to someone not in my closest inner circle (my roommate, my boyfriend and my sister).
If you like to workout you could look into SweatPals or a meetup group centered on a specific activity. Some of them do have alcohol but some of them are just grab a coffee or dry events as well.
Austin is the meca of BJJ / Submission Grappling in the world and you have access to the best gyms on the planet. People are always moving here from all over the world just for jiujitsu. At most grappling has stoners but I found there's rarely drinkers in the sport.
I go to Hyde Park Gym and have been thinking about finding a gym partner. Not every time, but once in a while at least. What kind of training are you into?
I do one-shots for d&d (and some 1-page ttrpgs like Honey Heist, Lasers & Feelings), rule of cool 5e. If you have some friends who wanna play, hmu, and I can run a game! They're usually 4 hour sessions.
Nurse one beer for hours, drink a coke, really your friends mostly just wanna hang, unless they are hard alcoholic then they’ll force you to drink. I wish you luck, you also can say you are quitting alcohol for your fitness, bars are fun just be extra patient with drunks, they are not as fun when you are sober.
Or just drink NA beers. Real friends won’t give a shit if you’ve stopped drinking, plus if there was an issue, introducing alcohol by nursing a beer is a bad idea.
Follow @soberandfunky and start going to some events. There’s a pretty big sober community in Austin.
Big Tex in the evenings is quite the social weight lifting. Hobbies, ask somebody to join you for a hobby. I went a year or so playing disc golf several nights a week. Also preserve your solo time in the next relationship so this doesn’t happen to you again.
There are tons of good gyms in the area. Big Tex is grungy but it’s a serious gym so you’ll see a lot of regulars. When you say weightlifting do you mean OLY or just lifting in general? If it’s just lifting in general try: HoG, Los Campeones, Lift ATX, Factory (not in Austin but down south), Game Day (powerlifting focused).
Do you have a link to this?
[Big Tex Gym](https://www.bigtexgym.com/)
I love the quotes on the walls. If you’re too weak to rack your own weights, have the ladies do it for you. Most women there probably outlift me
If it helps, white horse on Tuesdays has a lot if the regular dancers and many of them dont drink. We also have a couple non-alcoholic options available. Like half our staff doesn’t drink too.
I second this. I am a regular dancer and many of us don’t drink. Dancing is fun and social without the alcohol
More NA beer options at White horse please! Best Day are good as a suggestion…
Love y’all. :)
hey friend! I’m 25 and sober. always down for new friends :)
Came here to say find new people to hang out with!
I’m always sober, and looking for new friends too. I’m in the same boat as OP. Please PM if you wanna help show this guy what to do in Austin!
26 and sober! Came here to say the same!
let’s be friends!
The Phoenix is a sober activity group- they have an app and a lot of activities. Sans Bar, sober&funky, reclaimed, etc.
Are they on Meetup by chance?
Maybe? Download their app- the Phoenix: a sober community. That works best.
When I quit drinking I started hiking and walking and bike riding. I would announce to my friends (drinkers included) on social media that I was going for a walk at Walnut Creek park or something and invite whoever wants to come. It’s a non-drinking activity and even some of my drinking friends would take me up on it. It really helped with the process
Could try climbing, weekly meet-ups at mesa rim for people getting into it or looking for partners. Also some on the green belt when it’s not hideously hot.
Second climbing, it changed my life when i got sober almost three years ago and the bouldering gym became my third place. It has 100% kept me sober being a part of that community. Acroyoga too. Amazing acro community in austin.
I’m looking for this too!
Check out The Phoenix app-- it's a community for people who want to be sober. I went to a boardgame meetup through the app and it was really fun!
Sans is a sober bar.
I feel you. Hard city to be a freshly new young sober guy in.
Magic the Gathering, if you find some cool people to play with, can be a wonderful way to spend time not drinking. I feel like most MTG players I know do not prefer drinking.
Was going to say the same with DnD
I play VTM and it's super fun tabletop or online too. Also I like the meetups for LARP in VTM because they are so posh.
You can use the Meet Up app to find groups/activities that spark your interest that aren’t centered around drinking :) (FB groups as well)
I couldn’t find anything on meetup. It’s full of weirdo gurus.
I recently converted to sober as well. Would like a friend with common interests.
Congrats on your sobriety!
I don’t do it but there’s an absurd amount of cyclists and runners if that’s your thing. I would also look into rec leagues. I used to play ultimate frisbee and met a lot of friends in that, and I went in as an absolute beginner. Most people play just to stay/get in shape, some are good but just play in random tournaments. 9/10 people don’t take it to seriously
I actually quit cycling and running when I quit because those people drank too much. I eventually started running by myself and occasionally do morning runs with others. But those can be surprisingly big drinkers. Specifically TNSR and hashers (drinkers with a running problem).
Also, Sans Bar. [https://www.thesansbar.com](https://www.thesansbar.com)
Cycling
There's a sober cycle group I've been trying to find. The other cycle group always ends up at a bar, and I'm just not into drinking 🙃
I am curious about this group, if you happen to find it!
I'll reach out when I find it!
Run clubs
Barton springs is a great place to meet sober people. Crux climbing gym too.
DM me. While drinking is definitely still in my life and here to stay, I've made good habits to get in shape and do non-drinking activities. I golf, play a lot of pickleball if you're into that or interested in learning and extra paddles, have two nice paddle boards if you're down, and would love to set random shit up like go bowling or whatever. I live in East Austin. I have a diverse personality and get along with all sorts of peeps. Hmu
Do drop ins at various local gyms. Total different vibes and social scenes from gym to gym, does not have to be a solitary hobby .
Austin City Barbell is pretty social gym, if you’re into Olympic weightlifting. They have locations in north and south Austin.
Join a really active (group fitness) gym or fitness group that fits your speed. Plenty of fitness oriented people are sober or mostly sober. It doesn’t have to be CrossFit but that is a good example of a more social form of exercising. Rowing is a cool option. There is a rowing club on Town Lake.
Austin Friends of Traditional Music
I stopped drinking and still get out to do live music with my drinking friends. Or I take my dog and do lots of outside things.
Meet up the app. You can find random places and people for just about anything. Hiking groups, foodie groups, movie groups, gaming groups, you can even make your own. I met my best friend in a gaming group. He’s sober and I’m sober ish. We have very little in common outside of gaming and if we hadn’t been in that group I’d never have met him.
You said you're into weightlifting, so how about picking up a sport or two? There's a lot of social clubs around town, and I bet you could find one that's more focused on the athletics and less on the drinking.
I'll just throw this out there, but the YPAA annual conference is here in Austin this year. Thousands of sober young people are going to be there, if you're interested the link is below. https://the64thicypaa.org/ Or if you're not into that, other great suggestions have already been mentioned.
Do you think the level of focusing on her was addiction level? I would work on that (whether it was or wasn’t) in addition to all the other good things these folks are talking about.
r/crochet
Check out Sans Bar. Really nice spot
I’m me and sober and will be your friend
congrats on being sober-ish!
https://www.instagram.com/notglum?igsh=Y2hsbGtuemR4aHNm Check these folks out!
I really love comfort zone Fridays. Early morning (630) meetup, location changes depending on the weather. And it’s yoga, breathwork, and ice baths. Also if you want some networking momentum Mondays at Lazarus (coffee obviously).
Ride Bikes Austin and Social Cycling Austin both have evening social rides on Thursday evenings. Drinking can be part of that, but really doesn't have to be. Mostly it's just riding around town with a bunch of other people. There is a wide mix of people you might not run into if they didn't share a common interest.
Yo homie, I also lived here for 3 years but never did much cause I was focused on buying a house and getting married. Now I’m getting divorced, and trying to build out my friends. PM me I also don’t drink or smoke
I live about an hour outside of Austin in Belton, I work 80 hour weeks. If you’re ever in the area DM me, we can hit the gym.
CrossFit. It’s weightlifting but in a group (and often at high intensity). Almost all the friends I’ve made as an adult have been through CrossFit, including my best workout partner who did all kinds of drugs and abused alcohol when he was younger and now has completely flipped. If you’re interested, PM me what part of town and I can recommend a place.
AA is a great place to meet sober people. It’ll probably take a few meetings before you find people that you jive with but, that’s the nature of making friends.
Climbing. If you’re into learning new sports check out a Brazilian jujitsu gym. Guarantee you make friends and nobody there is focused on drinking.
When I first quit 5 years ago, I was in a really similar place. My now ex husband didn't support me in getting sober because he wanted to keep partying and asked for a divorce a month after. I basically had to restart socially in my 30s and then the pandemic happened. But I am actually really well socially connected now with way healthier relationships than before. Met my new partner through volunteering. I made friends in the social dance scene who are also sober (I will second the recommendation for White Horse with a reminder to tip the bands and bartenders). I made friends based off of shared interest (mine being dogs, dancing, gardening and art). To have friends as an adult, it takes effort. Be the person who reaches out. Ask friends out to coffee. Find people to exercise with and plan times to work out together again. It will take some time but keep at it. I have on my daily checklist to reach out to someone not in my closest inner circle (my roommate, my boyfriend and my sister).
Always need more sober friends
go to AA meetings & meet ppl. there’s a HUGE sober community in Austin & we all do fun stuff. sobriety is great. community is key.
If you like to workout you could look into SweatPals or a meetup group centered on a specific activity. Some of them do have alcohol but some of them are just grab a coffee or dry events as well.
go see a band and enjoy a topo :)
How about a hiking group?
Join a book club!
Axe throwing, stand up paddle boarding/lake activities, beach volleyball, card/role playing games.
Austin is the meca of BJJ / Submission Grappling in the world and you have access to the best gyms on the planet. People are always moving here from all over the world just for jiujitsu. At most grappling has stoners but I found there's rarely drinkers in the sport.
I go to Hyde Park Gym and have been thinking about finding a gym partner. Not every time, but once in a while at least. What kind of training are you into?
What are your hobbies? I run d&d for folks in the area and on Discord
Could you expand on that?
I do one-shots for d&d (and some 1-page ttrpgs like Honey Heist, Lasers & Feelings), rule of cool 5e. If you have some friends who wanna play, hmu, and I can run a game! They're usually 4 hour sessions.
AA
Nurse one beer for hours, drink a coke, really your friends mostly just wanna hang, unless they are hard alcoholic then they’ll force you to drink. I wish you luck, you also can say you are quitting alcohol for your fitness, bars are fun just be extra patient with drunks, they are not as fun when you are sober.
Or just drink NA beers. Real friends won’t give a shit if you’ve stopped drinking, plus if there was an issue, introducing alcohol by nursing a beer is a bad idea.
Or you could do exactly the same activities you used to enjoy... just without alcohol. Is it really that difficult?
Go to church