Kelsea Ballerini once believed 'me time' was 'narcissistic.' But now, 'I realize it's necessary'

Country singer Kelsea Ballerini is used to being on the move but the pandemic has forced her to slow down, for which she's grateful.

"To be honest, routine always sounded boring, but now it's something that helps me feel like I'm in control of my life," the crooner shared in a Thursday interview with Shape. "I'm baby stepping my way into it. Little things, like when you get out of bed, make the bed. Get outside for 30 minutes a day. Sit on the porch. Take the dog for a walk. I'm building that into my life, and it's not boring at all. It's really helping me feel that ownership of my life that I need."

She added, "I used to think 'me time' was so narcissistic, but now I realize it's necessary. I have a SoulCycle bike, and I love to do that. I am a hot-bath fanatic. I have all my essential oils, and I do that pretty much every night. I can show up in a more present way when I'm taking time for myself too."

The 27-year-old star first burst onto the scene in 2014 with her single "Love Me Like You Mean It," and she's been going non-stop ever since. "I'm really bad at slowing down. It's hard for me to be present," she told the outlet. "Meditation — I'm not there yet."

Cooking at home with her husband, fellow country singer Morgan Evans, who is a vegetarian, inspires Ballerini to have fun with food. "I've always been an 80/20 person as far as food and drinking. I try to do what's good for me 80 percent of the time. The other 20 percent of the time, I just enjoy my life," she said. "I run through the McDonald's drive-through once a month, and it's fine. Sometimes I'll have a little too much wine, and that's OK too. I've spent so much of my life feeling guilty for things that I eat or having an unhealthy relationship with food or the gym or whatever. So I just try to be nice to myself and do what's good for me. And when I don't, I start again the next day."

Not that it's easy all the time — earlier this month, the two-time Grammy nominee told People, "I'm not always confident. And I think that no one is. And if you are, congratulations, I would love to take classes from you. I don't think we live in a world where you can feel amazing in your skin all the time, because it's really hard."

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