Kelsea Ballerini reveals what she 'wants to do in so many areas'

Kelsea Ballerini has a different outlook on the new year.

The 30-year-old country music diva told People magazine at the ASCAP Grammy Brunch on Friday why she has stopped trying to "appreciate" life.

"I think I have this problem where I can never look around. I keep looking up, and I am trying to find a healthy balance of that because there's so much more that I want to do in so many areas. But I do feel like I've gotten to take a beat and appreciate what the last couple of years have brought into my life," she says.

"I think it's really encouraged me to stay diligent in my songwriting and protect the honesty that I found in [Rolling Up the] Welcome Mat moving forward," says Ballerini. "And that's the whole season I'm in right now is figuring what that sounds like next."

Chase Stokes, her boyfriend, is one of the new things in her life. Early in January 2023, there were rumours that the two were dating. That same April, they made their red carpet debut at the CMT Awards.

Ballerini tells the outlet that while the 31-year-old Outer Banks star has "go back to filming" over Grammy weekend, the Outer Banks star is helping her "from a distance."

"I made it very selfishly … quite literally emotionally because I had to," she revealed in January. "I put my dog's name and addresses and receipts, and all these things, and it connected more than anything else I've ever put out."