5 Components of Self-Care You Never Knew Existed

Self-care is a trendy – and important – topic these days. Maybe, like so many, you too didn’t hear of it until recently.

I knew nothing about self-care until a few years ago. It had never occurred to me that a concept like self-care even existed.

Sure, I’d heard about taking care of myself but to me that just meant avoiding having major accidents or falling victim to a crime. I also knew that people exercised and had nutritious diets for their health but I did not realise that this was necessarily part of self-care.

My research into codependency has led me to extensively explore many different areas of human wellbeing, self-care being one of them. I came to realise that self-care is absolutely and irrefutably essential to our wellbeing and health – whether that be physical or mental.

However, there are many components to it that we are all largely unaware of. Today I want to share 5 of them with you so you can evaluate those components in your life and assess how well you really take care of yourself.

1. Emotional Attunement

We are emotionally attuned to ourselves when we notice how we feel and what we need in any given moment. We are in touch with ourselves and take action to maintain or improve our wellbeing. Being emotionally attuned allows us to deepen our trust to ourselves and to feel emotionally safe in our lives.

When we ignore ourselves, deny our wants and needs or don’t act on our intuition, we are not emotionally attuned to ourselves and make choices that are not aligned with what we need in that particular moment in time.

2. Making Wise Choices

When we are emotionally attuned, we are able to make good choices for ourselves. Caring for ourselves means that we consider our insecurities, desires, vulnerabilities, preferences, individual differences, hopes and fears when making a decision.

Sometimes we choose something someone else wants for us or expects from us. This is usually not in our best interest and an inauthentic choice that does not serve us well – at least not in the long run.

3. Taking Personal Responsibility for Ourselves

This is SUCH an important aspect of self-care that so many people try to avoid and resist.

Taking personal responsibility for ourselves is the most empowered way of living. Instead of blaming others, our past, our fears or our situations for what is going on in our lives, we take full responsibility so we can create a life that suits us and that we find meaningful.

4. Emotional Regulation and Self-Soothing

Many people struggle to adequately regulate their emotions and soothe themselves in times of stress. When we take our thoughts too seriously, we easily get caught up in emotional turmoil. This is the time when we need to tend to ourselves with understanding, consideration and compassion.

When we let our emotions escalate, try to control others to avoid our own emotional response or talk to ourselves in harsh and punitive ways, we do not practice good self-care.

5. Letting Go of What Doesn’t Serve Our Wellbeing and Growth

This is an important skill all healthy adults need to develop and enforce in their lives to practice good self-care. This is not about encouraging avoidance but about discernment and wisdom.

We look after ourselves well when we let go of an abusive or neglectful partner, unnecessary stressors or chores in our lives, one-sided friendships, unhealthy habits or unhelpful thoughts.

Self-care is so much more than a gym membership and a healthy diet. Sure, those are great steps towards ensuring your wellbeing but don’t think that it stops there.

There are so many ways in which you can take care of yourself and when you begin to notice them and act on them, you’ll realise why you never felt as good as you always knew you could.