Selena Gomez Is a New Woman After Self-Imposed Hiatus

Breaking up is hard to do — especially with your cellphone. Just being separated from one’s phone for a matter of minutes can cause heart palpitations, so imagine what Selena Gomez went through by remaining completely disconnected from hers for a full three months. That kind of experience will change you.

The pint-size pop princess recently revealed that she (voluntarily!) gave up her phone during her 90-day hiatus. (ICYMI, back in August, Gomez announced that she would be taking time off to deal with “anxiety, panic attacks, and depression” connected to lupus.) Asked when the last time was that she felt truly burned out, Gomez said, “Three months ago, before I took a hiatus to take care of myself.”

But in her effort to make positive changes, work wasn’t the only stress factor she cut out.

“I recently took 90 days off. During that time I did not have my cellphone,” she explained. “It was the most refreshing, calming, rejuvenating feeling. Now I rarely pick up my phone, and only limited people have access to me.”

Sounds nice, you say, but what about answering all those emails?

“I don’t,” she quipped. “I do better over the phone!”

It’s perhaps somewhat ironic that Gomez limits her phone use now, considering she is the most-followed person on Instagram, with a whopping 103 million followers. (She also had eight of the 10 most popular photos on Instagram in 2016!) Her posts mainly capture moments from her “Revival” tour, both onstage and off, with a mix of editorial shoots and advertisements thrown in.

A little less than a week ago, however, she broke from tradition and shared a few longer thoughts with her followers.

“I have a lot to be thankful for this year,” she began before calling it her “hardest yet most rewarding one yet.”

Gomez — pictured in front of a bevy of adoring fans — then moved on to explain how she has changed in 2016 (beyond just getting off her phone).

“I’ve finally fought the fight of not ‘being enough.’ I have only wanted to reflect the love you guys have given me for years and show how important it is to take care of YOU. By grace through faith. Kindness always wins. I love you guys. God bless.” The caption appeared beside an appropriate shot of the singer in front of a bevy of adoring fans.

It was all very sweet and upbeat, which is totally in line with her new (postbreak) lease on life. In this vein of self-care, she added that she begins each day with a simple routine: “Drink water, stretch, and take a deep breath.”

On the rare occasions when she does have downtime, she skips watching TV or getting sucked deep into the rabbit hole of social media (again, irony) and instead gravitates toward “self-affirmations in cooking or napping!”

Asked for an inspirational quote she held dear, Justin Bieber’s ex said, “You are not what happened to you — you are what you chose to become after what happened to you.”

Looks like she has chosen to become someone not addicted to her phone.