Kelsea Ballerini Is Taking Time to ‘Appreciate What the Last Couple Years Have Brought into My Life’ (Exclusive)

Kelsea Ballerini started the new year with a fresh mindset.

At the ASCAP Grammy Brunch on Friday, the country music star, 30, shared with PEOPLE why she stopped “appreciating” life.

“I think I have this problem where I can never look back. I’m constantly looking up and trying to find a healthy balance because there’s so much more I want to do in so many areas. But I feel like I’ve had to pick up the pace and appreciate what the last few years brought into my life,” she said.

The process benefited Ballerini in many ways.

Kelsea Ballerini Reacts to Her Best Country Album Grammy Nom: ‘I’ve Earned My Freedom as a Songwriter’ (Exclusive)

Kelsea Ballerini shares a photo of her ASCAP Grammy Brunch look on Instagram.

Kelsea Ballerini/instagram

“I think that really encouraged me to stay diligent in my songwriting and protect the honesty that I found in [Rolling Up the] Welcome Matt moving forward,” Ballerini said. “And that’s the whole season I’m in right now figuring out what that sounds like next.”

One of the new things that entered her life is her boyfriend, Chase Stokes. The two sparked dating rumors in early January 2023 and made their red carpet debut at the 2023 CMT Awards that April.

Ballerini told PEOPLE that he Foreign banks star, 31, is supporting her “from a distance” over Grammy weekend as she has to get back “to the shoot.”

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at the 2023 CMT Music Awards in Austin in April.

Jeff Kravitz/Getty

From tears to swearing: all the best reactions to the 2024 Grammy nominations

At the 2024 Grammy Awards, Ballerini is up for Best Country Album for Roll out the welcome mat. The The 6-song EP was released four months after her divorce from Morgan Evans was finalized in November 2022. The project was one of her most personal to date.

“I did it very selfishly… literally emotionally because I had to,” she told PEOPLE in January. “I put in my dog’s name and addresses and bills and all that stuff, and it connected more than anything else I’ve ever posted.”

Kelsea Ballerini attends the ASCAP GRAMMY Brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills on February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles.

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Ballerini plans to continue with a more vulnerable approach to her music.

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“The thing that I learned that I really hold onto now is that there is no amount of truth or detail that makes it not relatable,” she told PEOPLE. “I think for a long time, even though I was writing about my life and my emotions, I would try to round off the edges, because I think, ‘I want everyone to feel in this,’ or see themselves in the story.”

The 66th Grammy Awards will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 4 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.

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Source: HIS Education