It's not always easy to practice what you preach, but it's worth doing.

In so many of our letters to you in Shine Weekly—our weekly newsletter for Shine members—we’ve talked about how important it is to prioritize rest. And this week: We’re taking that advice to heart.

Today kicks off what we call “Autonomy August,” a week offline for the team at Shine HQ.

Autonomy August began three years ago, as a tradition where we all worked remotely for a week—all over the country—with a limited schedule of a few hours a day. The goal was to give us some breathing room before summer ended, and to flex our autonomy as individuals by working wherever we wanted.

Folks did everything from touring NYC’s museums for a week, to glamping in Colorado, to living the tiny house life on a beach.

This year, Autonomy August looks a little different. For starters, we’re already working remotely as a team. And after an intense, but meaningful year for all of us all as human beings—we thought it was important for us, a team, to be fully offline. Both for the sake of autonomy (taking time off is our prerogative!) but more than anything, for the sake of rest.

It’s just one of the ways we’re putting our value of Go Big and Go Home into action. And we believe it’s critical—especially in the midst of a pandemic, social justice reckoning, and so much more.

Don’t worry—you’ll still get content in the Shine app every day. But all of us—from app developers to community managers to content creators—will be taking this time to recharge and catch up with self-care in a real, tangible way.

We challenge you to join us by finding ways you can prioritize rest. How can you show up for yourself by recharging this week?

We challenge you to join us by finding ways you can prioritize rest. How can you show up for yourself by recharging this week?

Whether it’s doing something you love, taking that nap, or creating space for yourself to just breathe—know it’s all important for your mental health and will help you show up strong for your community too.

We’ll be back next week ready to kick off September strong—but until then, happy resting.