This App Will Text You Non-Annoying Life Advice Every Morning
Nothing gives me more intense douche chills than the term “self care.”
Self care is not a concept I like to think about. What even is it? Meditating, exercising, journaling about your feelings (BARF)? Call me biased, but I find activities like these to be so self-indulgent and earnest, I can’t roll my eyes hard enough.
Instead, I bury my inner problems with food, wine, and material things. You know, like a normal person.
But last month when we covered all aspects of health and wellness, I found myself starting to wonder if there might be a point to this whole self care thing. Maybe it’s not just insufferable narcissism — maybe thinking about the fact that you have a soul and emotions can actually improve your life!
Still, I’m busy, and working out and meditating take a lot of time. I wasn’t about to start doing that. One thing I can do though? Receive text messages. In fact, I’m awesome at it — I receive dozens per day, to both my phone and my laptop, sometimes simultaneously. What could be easier than receiving a text message with life advice?
So I decided to try out Shine, a new texting service that sends life advice to your inbox every morning at 8 a.m. I already get a weather text from Poncho every morning and it’s rarely steered me wrong over the past three years. In fact, I’ve come to depend on it. So I figured Shine might be similar.
Shine founders Naomi Hirabayashi and Marah Lidey (pictured above) met while working at Dosomething.org. Naomi was the chief marketing officer while Marah was the director of mobile messaging. They quickly became work besties and realized they could use their expertise to start a female-focused media company that’s based in texting.
They started Shine about three months ago. After you join, the service sends you a daily inspirational text at 8 a.m. Here’s an example from last week:
Watch Your Clock Wednesday: Our bodies all have a natural rhythm (called circadian) but we often organize our day around everything *but* that. Set yourself up to crush today by tapping into your body’s optimal time to get stuff done.
This text piqued my interest so after I tapped “M” for more, and received a link to a story all about how to harness your sleep cycle. Actual concrete tips for being less tired — this is way more useful to me than “setting intentions” or “saying affirmations.” This is the kind of self care I can get into.
Today’s text came with a link to an article with tips for preventing burnout, which I also found really useful (sensing a pattern here?).
“We’re looking to build content that we ourselves would want,” Naomi told me over the phone, “and that’s where it all comes from.”
Shine includes advice for both life and work, which I think is what keeps it out of woo-woo spirituality territory. The tips can improve your life in tangible ways, like making you less tired and grumpy. I know spirituality advocates would agree that meditation and reiki and affirmations can also do that — but those tactics aren’t for everyone, you know?
Incorporating work and productivity in Shine’s daily texts was a no brainer for Marah and Naomi.
“We started with work advice because it’s really an extension of how Marah and I met and know each other,” Naomi said. “Work is a big part of who I am. It’s not all I am, but that idea of work and life balance is much more blurred for our generation.”
Naomi and Marah picked four categories to focus on when coming up with Shine content: confidence, daily happiness, mental health, and productivity.
“Our market is us,” Naomi said. “It’s meant to feel like we’ve got your back.”
And from someone who cringes at the thought of anything spiritual or uplifting, I can attest: if you’re looking for actual life advice on the daily, Shine’s pretty solid.
