I'm Back

A full year went by without updating this blog. To be completely honest, I didn't mean for that to happen.

This past year from September of 2017 to now has been the biggest roller coaster I've faced thus far. I had a massive change of bosses at a job, got a new job, moved, made and lost friends, started and ended a relationship; it's just been a whirlwind.

I'm not going to dive into details for the privacy of some people. However, that year, I felt that I was at my lowest point in my career and in my own head. I wasn't seeing progress at my job. I felt trapped, so much so that it started to drastically affect my health. I was so stressed that I dropped a disgusting amount of weight, my hair started to thin out; I just looked sickly.

I wasn't able to be myself. I felt that I lost my own personality and my own sense of self. I was putting on such a front to just get through the work day and to get through the complete depression I was in for a full year. Karli was gone. There was some other spirit or soul taking over, and it just wasn't me.

In March of 2018, I thought that my career was over. I had a contract coming up, and I wasn't getting a single hit on jobs. I always told myself I will never be unemployed again after the month and a half after college of unemployment. I did not want to move back in with my parents. I was questioning whether or not I was cut out for this industry. I was in a full panic mode.

April was a new beginning. I started to get hits on jobs, and I landed one; right back home in Illinois. In June of 2018, I left the town of Hazard, Kentucky and moved back to the Midwest to Springfield, Illinois. In the three months I've been back in my second home of Central Illinois, I have never been happier.

I finally found myself again. I wasn't this angry, wretched, negative person anymore. I put weight back on, I was glowing, I was smiling constantly. Even my mom noticed how genuinely happy I was being out of the South. I was surrounded by my friends and family who I was seperated from by over 500 miles for two years.

I look back on this past year, and I said some nasty things to people who didn't deserve it. I apologize to those people. There are some things I regret doing in this past year, especially to some people. I am truly sorry if I did hurt you. I'm not making excuses, but that person a year ago was not Karli Bell.

This person now in October of 2018 is Karli. Do I regret moving to Kentucky? Absolutely not. I learned a lot about myself, about what I want in a job, what I want in a friend, what I want in a relationship and what I want to see happen in my future. I couldn't have learned that if I didn't go through those struggles.

Now, I'm in full control of my destiny and my future. I have my goals set (knowing me, it's obviously on a ridiculously detailed timeline). I have a list of what I want to acheive in this first year here in Springfield.

Karli Bell is back.

The Jordan Year

Guys...I'm 23 now. This is actually insane. I would be lying if I said I think I'd make it this far. Absolutely not. Life is ever-changing. You never know what'll happen one day. People always like to focus on the negative now (Thanks, Trump). Instead, take a moment to reflect on how great of a year it's been for you, personally. That's what I plan on doing in this month's blog.

This past year has been a whirlwind for me. I graduated from college, got a job in my field, moved away from home, made some new friends, lost some old ones and made phenomenal memories. I still cannot comprehend that I'm a college graduate. If you would have asked me sophomore year of college if I would graduate, I would have said no. I was a screw-up, making horrible decisions and it all came back to bite me in the butt later in life. I learned from that.

I have job. I'm employed AND in the field I studied. That's still a dream for me. I'm making moves in the field of sports journalism and plan to keep doing so. Waking up everyday and being able to talk about sports for a living is still amazing. It's not a job. I'm just living and it's awesome.

I moved away from home. If you asked me in senior year if I would move down to Kentucky, I would have looked at you like you're nuts. Yet, here I am. To say this culture shock was necessary for me mentally is an understatement. It's always great to learn about different cultures and realize that not everyone is as blessed as you were is humbling. I'm not saying you need to move to a town of 6,000 people to do so, but for me, fate put me here. I just got to ride it.

I've made lifelong friends this past year. I met the squad in Nate, Tyler, Lou, AJ, Mulvin, Tim, Dave, Elisa and Kaila. I met Caleb, Josh, Marcus, Jarrett and other coworkers that have turned into friends. Friendships between Krista, Angela and I grew stronger. John Noble, Jordan and I still talk on a regular basis. I met Ray, Will, Kelz, Chris, Darrell, Bo, Brandon and others out in the field that I see regularly. I've travelled all over Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana this past year. I got to come back home for 12 days and loved every second of it. I caught up with old friends in Katie, Ashley, Jake, Mike and Isabel. I've networked with plenty of other sports guys in Lexington and Louisville.

I got to experience new things, like covering UK basketball, football and softball. I covered state tournaments for basketball and football. I finally got to see The Grateful Dead and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. I've met new people at bars back home and in Ohio.

All in all, it's been a phenomenal year for me. Like Jordan, I'm going to keep grinding to see where I'll be next year at this time. I may still be in Kentucky. I may in Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, Canada, England. Wherever fate takes me next. It's time to get back and focus on the next day.

These "Poster Christians" Need To Stop

For my father's sake, I will say that I am a religious person, but I consider myself to be more spiritual. I do not like organized religion, because I believe it does more harm than good. Mind you, this is coming from a woman who was raised in a converted Catholic family and was in Catholic school from first grade all the way through high school. 

My family is very religious. We attend Mass every week and every Holy Day of Obligation. We learned new things about the faith through school and my father's vastly expanse knowledge on Catholicism and religion as a whole. However, the one thing that my dad taught me and something I still abide by to this day is that the best way to show your faith and honor God is through actions and acting like a good person.

Yes, that is extremely hard, but it is something that I try to abide by as much as I can. HOWEVER, ever since I moved from Chicago to Kentucky, the amount of what I like to call "poster Christians" is far too high and need to stop. What is a "poster Christian?" I will tell you my interpretation of this phrase that I decided to coin to label these people. A "poster Christian" is the Christian that will shove God and religion down your throat, either verbally or through their RIDICULOUS amount of social media posts, about how God is the only way to be happy. However, these same people that throw this at you constantly will then do the exact opposite of what they're preaching about and be a straight hypocrite.

Ever since I moved into the Bible Belt (although I do not consider Kentucky to be the Bible Belt), these types of people are EVERYWHERE. Yes, I do not personally attend Mass every week because of my own reasons. However, when I get asked, "What religion are you?" and I say that I find myself to be a more spiritual person, these same people come at me and throw their Protestant faith down my throat and say that I'm not a good person, because I don't go to Mass every week. Also, why do you need to know how I identify religiously? That's already an odd question to ask when you initially meet someone.

Excuse me, I did not ask to get a Bible lesson from you, sir or ma'am. Also, doesn't God teach in your oh so revered book that you must treat everyone with kindness and forgiveness? So, by you criticizing my difference in religion and for not being a part of the cookie cutter religions, you, therefore, are doing the opposite of what you are taught in your church or faith.

That's only one example. Then there are the people who find a way to take a damn ThoughtCatalog listicle or an Odyssey article and spin it around to say that only God is the way you'll find a husband. WHAT? Are you kidding me? It's a ThoughtCatalog article people, not a religious article off a spiritual website. Calm down. You are the people that irritate me the most.

If I wanted to get a Bible lecture every day, I can call my father, a priest, a deacon, a monk or a nun and ask them questions. I did not log on to Facebook to see your manipulative changing of words so you can shove God down my throat about how the only way I will find a husband is through God. Pretty sure God wasn't at a bar, a concert, a frat party, etc. when two people met and fell in love.

It's you, these "poster Christians," that are creating more division and creating more hypocrisy than ever. Your social media posts may say that you're devout, kind, caring and accepting of all people, but your day-to-day action show the complete opposite. Pretty positive that God isn't going to check how many Bible quotes you've tweeted or posted as Facebook statuses to see whether or not you'll cross the Holy Gates. 

If you identify as a Christian, then the purpose of being Christian is to love, be kind and accept all people from all backgrounds. You must treat all people the way you would want to be treated. So, if you wanted to be treated like a hypocrite, then keep doing what you're doing. However, if you want to be treated the way that your social media posts proclaim, then stop posting about it online and just pass along love and positivity to one another. Stop being a poster child and feel the need to try and convert people through manipulative re-wording of an article written by a college student as a venting mechanism.

6 Months Away From Home

For those who don't know, I moved from Chicago to a tiny, little town in the middle of Eastern Kentucky for a job. I have yet to go back to Chicago since I moved here about six to seven months ago. HOWEVER, I never expected to enjoy a small town as much as I have.

I moved from the metropolis of over nine million people to a town of just about 6,000. Talk about a culture shock. When I first moved here, I was just stuck in a hole. I kept going up to Athens to see my old friends, I rarely left my apartment on my days off, and I just felt really out of place. I was a 6' tall Chicagoan who moved to the South, so I felt SUPER out of place.

I would go out on stories and cover high school and college athletes. I would make on average an hour drive to get these interviews and get to know these kids. The one thing that just kept showing itself over and over again is the amount of poverty in this part of the state. I would see delapidated houses, lawns that are unkept, hundreds of torn up mobile homes and just poverty stricken homes. But then, I would meet these kids, and they would blow my mind.

These kids, especially the high schoolers, are struggling through so much and have so many extra responsibilities that I didn't have growing up. I was blessed to grow in the city with so many options to help the family when I could. But these kids are just having a smile on their face, practice and play their butts off, and keep living their life to the best of their ability.

I never thought these high schoolers would be as influential on me as they have been. They have so many dreams and aspirations and they don't let their location get in the way. I had the privilege to live in such a big city and have so many opportunites at my disposal. These kids are scraping by to just be a success, and it's truly inspiring.

These parents of these kids are even more impressive. They sacrifice everything to make sure their baby can get the new gear for practice or take them all over the country so they can grow as athletes. I've interviewed so many parents and teenagers, and all of them have touched me in some way.

When I first moved here, I was a snob. I thought I was better than all these people down here, because I came from Chicago. I was stuck up. I admit that. Now that I've been here as long as I have, I realized that I'm not better than anyone else. These kids are all trying to acheive the same goals I had when I was their age. These kids have humbled me, and I never thought a small town would have that much of an impact on my life.