Rachael Kirkconnell Reveals How She Pulled Herself Out of a 'Dark Place' After Shocking Matt James Split

Rachael Kirkconnell is a whole new person following her split from Matt James earlier this year.

During an exclusive chat with OK!, The Bachelor star reflects on how she's healed from the emotional demise of her longterm relationship while sharing her new post-breakup self-care favorite — Each & Every's natural deodorant.

Kirkconnell relates to every girl or guy dealing with heartbreak as she admits her breakup process was "pretty natural."

"I had my days where I wanted to shut off the world — that's totally fine, totally normal," she explains. "You take the time that you need, but after a while, I started to appreciate the new time that I had and how all of my time could be poured right back into me if I wanted it to."

"I was in a relationship for what would have been five years this fall. I was 22 when [The Bachelor] called me and I turned 29 this year," she explains, reflecting on how "transformative" her 20s were while looking ahead at the next decade of her life.

While Kirkconnell thinks "society has us stressed about entering our 30s," the media personality couldn't be more "excited."

"I'm trying to be thankful, so many people don't even get to reach 30. It's a blessing I'm even as old as I am and I try to tell myself every single birthday, I'm like, 'This is a blessing,'" she mentions. "Your 30s just come with more confidence and more stability."

In the roughly four months since her split from James, Kirkconnell notes her "career has been a fun distraction."

"I think my goal would be for my hobbies and passions to turn into part of my career," she adds. "I am still figuring out exactly what that looks like, but I really do love health and wellness — so even just jumping into something like this partnership [with Each & Every] is a great representation of brands I would like to work with."

"I'm a really big home body.
I love to cook. I love food. I am really big on animals, so I hope I can figure out a way to incorporate things that I love and I'm passionate about into my career. That's definitely the goal," the Georgia native shares.

Single and happy, Kirkconnell admits, "right now the world is my oyster. I have so much time on my hand to focus on myself."

As mentioned, working with Each & Every was a no-brainer as Kirkconnell leans into self-care and self-love.

While the reality television star has always been a fan of "clean ingredients," she sometimes finds natural products don't have "the same performance."

"I was blown away by the ingredients and then when I actually started using it and saw it genuinely worked for me, it just showed you really can have both [clean and effective products]," Kirkconnell praises.