12 New Year's resolutions every Austinite should make

It's easy to just hit a few buttons and watch a turquoise t-shirt clad person show up and hand you a lukewarm bag of goodness. But instant gratification is expensive, y’all.

Yeah, so we like to party. Spending three nights a week at our plethora of dive bars is good for the soul, but bad for the liver. Maybe try a juice cleanse instead? 

There are so many opportunities to help out at Austin Animal Center, Austin Humane Society and Austin Pets Alive! with awful tasks like “feeding newborn kittens” and “spending quality time with dogs, some of whom have never known love.” No pressure.

See above.

Buy books and actually read them instead of just collecting and stacking those babies—ahem, you know who you are. BookPeople is a great place to start. The shelves are full of book recommendations handwritten by employees and you’ll get the yasss-i’m-shopping-local feels.

Flower Child instead of Culinary Dropout, Koriente over Chi’lantro (those addictive fries), JuiceLand in lieu of Torchy’s—you get the idea.

There are plenty of opportunities for working out in Austin (a gym, a hike, lifting tacos—kidding, sort of). Use that ClassPass you bought a while ago at places like barre3, Orangetheory, LOVE Cycling Studio, Black Swan Yoga, Crux Climbing and more.

Call them up—or better yet, take them to dinner at ’rent-friendly Jack Allen’s Kitchen, Moonshine Grill or Matt’s El Rancho. Pro tip: If they’re paying, order top shelf margs.

Check out CRAFT, the Eastside DIY crafting studio where you can either walk in during business hours—with access to all of their art/craft supplies for $10 an hour—or attend (or, optionally, host) a crafting workshop.

Now that you've cut back on your Favor orders, it's time to learn how to cook—or at least upgrade your current skill set. Sign up for classes with Kitchen Underground and learn to bake bread, make sage ravioli with browned butter and gumbo yaya with fun and quirky chef Maggie Perkins. Bonus: all classes are BYOB!

Bars and apps are the obvious solutions to making friends and finding a date, but we like these even more: wait in the Franklin Barbecue line, take two-stepping classes at the White Horse Saloon, take an improv class at The New Movement or attend adult night at Thinkery children’s museum. 

Learn to meditate: benefits include reduced stress and anxiety, a longer attention span, improved sleep and blood pressure. Check out Meditation Bar for casual mediation or Austin Zen Center, Kadampa Meditation Center and Diamond Way Buddhist Center for Buddhism-based meditation.