Christina Haack Says She's 'Keeping Our Private Life More Private' Following Tumultuous Year

Courtesy Discovery+ Christina Anstead

Christina Haack has been putting her health and wellness first after an unexpectedly trying year - and that means making her privacy a priority.

The Christina on the Coast star, 37, who announced her split from TV host Ant Anstead in September, recently spoke to PEOPLE about how she's been creating a fresh start for herself and her family, and how taking time away from the spotlight has helped her stay grounded in the present.

"I'm focusing on keeping our private life more private and just enjoying our time together and just being positive," Haack, who shares daughter Taylor, 10 and son Brayden, 5, with her first husband and Flip or Flop costar, Tarek El Moussa, and son Hudson, 1, with Anstead, tells PEOPLE of her current mindset.

"I'm focusing on myself and the kids and having fun," she adds.

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Because her life is often documented for both Flip or Flop and Christina on the Coast, the designer says that maintaining privacy can be challenging - but it is possible.

Christina Anstead/Instagram Christina Anstead with daughter Taylor and son Brayden

"I think it's controllable by spending more time together, staying off social media and not reading things," she says. "And just focusing on the present and not getting sucked into it all."

Since the split, Haack has spoken out several times about the negative impact social media can have. She currently follows zero people on Instagram, and has chosen to disable comments on certain posts.

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The real estate expert addressed critics on Instagram in November, clapping back at those who said she didn't post enough photos with her children - but that her kids' fathers, Anstead and El Moussa, did.

She wrote that it had been an "incredibly isolating" year for her, and seeing comments like "you must be an absent mother because you are not with your kids" is not acceptable.

"Smh wake up people. I hardly post anymore ... and I def do not want to post my kids every freaking day to make it a contest of who's a better parent 🤦🏼‍♀️ f that," she wrote at the time. "This doesn't mean I'm not with my kids - it means the opposite - I am with them - I'm present."

"Stop parent shaming people, stop choosing sides when there is no side to choose. My point being - when you see stuff on here take it all with a grain of salt," she added. "There is a whole lot of filters and fake smiles. I've been guilty of faking it too. We are all struggling - some of us are just better at 'masking' it."

Christina Anstead/Instagram Christina Anstead and her kids

Haack and El Moussa, who were married for 7 years, separated publicly in December 2016 and finalized their divorce in January 2018.

Haack and Anstead began dating in October 2017 and married at their home in Newport Beach, California, in December 2018.

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Haack recently put the home she shared with Anstead and their blended family on the market. The 4,804-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home was listed for $6 million in April. The price was later dropped to $5.495 million, and the house is now in escrow.

Grant Rivera/Apex Visions; Inset: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images Christina Haack's Newport Beach, Calif., home, which she listed for sale in early April and has now found a buyer for.

"We've been here for three years and we wanted more of a coastal vibe, so we decided to sell and we're looking at other properties now," Haack says of her decision to move out and on.

"I just like a fresh start," she adds.

Christina on the Coast airs Thursdays at 9pm on HGTV and the same day on discovery+.