Karla's Chronicles

 This is going to count as the first blog in this series. I feel as though my first one counted and looked like more of an introduction. First of all, the overall goals for my blog are meant to be helpful in nature while also giving advice about all of life's challenges. Everyone who is presently alive knows that life is hard, but exactly how or why is hard to pinpoint and nail down because everyone's life situation is different. Therefore, there are varied coping mechanisms that are used for each individual. Because of that, I do not feel that self-help is either an answer or a solution, but I believe it helps some people make their lives a bit more livable and organized.  The first step in achieving self-help is to look at yourself in an individualistic way. Think about every part that makes you who you are, both positive and negative. Then, once you're able to do that, it will free up more space in your mind so that you can be less afraid to take that step and show yours...

 hey, everybody. we are at the end of 2023. i cannot believe another year has come and gone. as you get older, time really does move along, and it does not care if you struggle to keep up with it. as for the year, just like any other, it had its fair share of ups and downs. we had some terrifying family struggles, but the important thing is that we made it through, and are still very much here. it often takes some sort of shake-up to reinforce the grateful feeling. very unfortunate but true as true can be.  my social media struggle was topped off when i got hacked and lost of all of my old information. i was pissed at the time that it happened, but now i realize that maybe it happened for a reason. maybe i was meant to start again and maybe it gives me the ability to start again with this blog, which will give me the motivation to write again. maybe i will hit the creative lottery in the new year! many new writing projects are upcoming. i want to turn this blog into an empower...

 hello, blog, it has been a while. i was tied up in my poetry collection and left my blog in the dust for a bit. i would like to make it a goal to become more active here. the last post i made was my letter to depression 9 months ago. tomorrow is thanksgiving day. it really is amazing how quickly time moves. for the most part, this has been a pretty good year. i have more to be thankful for than i do to complain about. so, that's a good thing. i feel like i have become a stronger person this year in terms of adapting to my chronic pain. it has not been easy at all, but slowly but surely, i am learning to cope. it has been a wld ride, but i have kept my seat belt on! in the spirit of thankfulness, i would like to say i really appreciate everyone who takes the time out of their days to check out my blog and my life updates. it means the world that your support is a mainstay. i feel like i have lost a lot in the past couple of years, so knowing that i have your support truly does mean...

    Dear Depression,   I wake up in the morning feeling overtired and stiff as a board, and the day has barely begun. I touch my face, and I feel the wetness of the tears that have blurred my once perfect vision. There were so many thoughts swimming through my mind. So many in fact, that it is almost impossible to differentiate between fact and fiction. You have been making deals with the devil so often that I begin to believe exactly what he has fed into my already disease-ridden mind.   Every step I take towards normalcy and betterment is a hit to your heart. I know you do not want to see me even begin to become slightly better. You cannot survive without sucking every inch of air from my lungs. You cannot survive without the berating thoughts teeming through every pour and leaking from every vein. Your end goal is sick and twisted, yet I understand it with a perfect and keen eye.   You have ravaged me so completely and so deeply that I now can see your mot...

  Photo by  Avery Nielsen-Webb  from  Pexels "Peace" Peace is something we all long for But we are not sure how to attain it Our numerous scars Are seeping  With blood But are a symbol of our strength Our never stop attitude No matter how hard it becomes The waterfall has always been my safe haven Washing my tears down river

Photo by  Sebastian Voortman  from  Pexels Hello, there, It has been some time since I last posted on this blog, but I am happy to say that is because I have been busy working on my poetry project. I have been incredibly successful with writing lately. It is transformational, and this project is showing me that I am maturing and growing as a person and a writer. It has been a very satisfying journey. Believe it or not, writing can be very tiring, and it takes a lot of brainpower. To be completely honest, I am a bit fatigued with book writing. I decided to take my self-care into my own hands and just relax and create on my blog. I decided that I am going to do poetry based on imagery. So, today is my first day taking on this sort of challenge. I will do three of them this week! I hope you enjoy them! I think I am going to start doing this when book projects have me exhausted. It's a good way to relax and not be so concerned with the precise nature of it. Anyway, here is th...

Hello, there, guys!! I have been busy really focusing on my poetry project lately so I have not made time and space for my blog as much lately. I have been doing wonderfully lately, though! I feel so good about my life, where my writing is heading, and I just feel good about life in general. I feel like I have a renewed purpose in life where I am just adjusting to appreciating things on a whole new level. There are only 2 more months left in this year, but I feel like this has been one of spectacular growth for me, even more so than last year. I do not know how to describe it other than saying it has a completely different vibe. I am a spiritual person, and I really feel like God has been driving and guiding my life in the right direction. I really wish I could teach people my ways, but I know that this is something that cannot be taught. You just have to grab it by the horns and fully appreciate it for what it is. I love watching other people's life unravel just like mine has done...

 Yay!! It is October! My favorite months of the year are upcoming, and I am always excited by the prospect of the holidays and all things fall. I thought I would stop by to give a little update and tell y'all that I am going to be creating another blog for my random poetry. On this particular site, I will feature poetry that will not be found in any other place on the internet. If you're interested in my random musings, I highly suggest that you check it out and give it a follow. I will be uploading my very first post on there tomorrow and will update it periodically when I feel like writing something on a whim or out of the left field. It is going to be aptly titled "Karla's Random Poetry"  

 It has been a bit. I have been busy putting my focus on my poetry collection. It may seem like I have forgotten about my blog, but I haven't/ I try to have a 4-day schedule that focuses on poetry only. I have decided that I am going to use Fridays to contribute to this blog so that it doesn't get left by the wayside. So, I hope you enjoy that tidbit of information from me. I am going to keep the poems that I write for this blog separate from my book project. Today, I am going to write about faith. "Faith" Faith was a concept with which I was very unfamiliar I spent so much time dancing with the devil I had no idea what would be placed before me When I gave up and quit listening to the devil's  Bitter but sweet-sounding voice He did his best to scoop me up  And pull me into his wrath I must admit he did a pretty good job He toyed with me Because he knew that I didn't know any better But I became worn down and broken From the constant ridicule That seemed to lo...

 hi... i have not stopped by my blog to say hi to everyone in a while. i hope everyone is doing okay. the world is still crazier than we would all like it to be at this point, especially here in the good ole united states. i am doing okay. i have been going back and forth with feeling fine and then bouncing back with my depression. it's very annoying, and i wish it wasn't an issue anymore, but i truly cannot help it or do much about it. i am trying my best to get by the best way i know how. trying to stay busy and focusing on a few writing projects. as long as i can keep myself occupied, i do not see any real issues with trying to get better mentally.  i have been doing a better job at keeping up with my blog this year, as you can probably tell with the sheer number of posts. my main focus right now is my third poetry book, but there are times like today when i work on little bits of everything. i may be doing some more posts this week. i will come up with something topic wise...

 The fact is simple: Life does not always turn out the way you pictured it would. Dreams are good to have, but sometimes, they get blurred by the unexpected. I think everyone knows by now that Simone Biles' exit from the team final was unexpected. All of us who are supremely interested in gymnastics expected golden glory from a team led by the best gymnast in all of the world. It did not turn out that way, but despite having an enormous load on their shoulders, the three women from the USA women's gymnastics team stepped up without their leader, and they earned a silver medal. If that does not show courage and tenacity. I do not know what does. Now let's talk Simone. The best gymnast the world has ever seen without question. This girl was collecting and accumulating difficulty points like they were part of an Easter Egg hunt on Easter morning. Just when you think she couldn't possibly get better, she was coming up with new and harder tricks to amaze those of us who coul...

  "Barren Spirits" You searched for decades To find the missing part Of your life In every nook  And in every cranny You searched until Your eyes could no longer  Look You wanted so badly For something to appear To get rid of this barren spirit That seems to sit dormant There is nothing around me to make  It move The darkness has surrounded me And has refused to relent I have prayed for relief But my prayers have remained unanswered No matter how hard I plead God does not seem to want me to succeed The barren soul feeling just continue to bleed  Within me

 Dear Simone,  I feel like I should begin this letter to you by introducing myself. My name is Karla Culbertson. I am a 36-year-old woman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I suppose my interest in gymnastics is influenced by my disability. I am wheelchair dependent due to Quadraplegic Cerebral Palsy. As you can probably guess, gymnastics is even more fascinating to me when compared to the average fan because I cannot even walk and to be able to see you defy gravity time and time again is just that much more incredible to me.  My gymnastics fandom was first inspired by the Magnificent Seven in 1996. Once I watched all seven of those women capture the Gold Medal, I was hooked. I remember buying Dominique Moceanu's autobiography and studying the skills index in the back of the book until I was cross-eyed. A couple of months prior to the 1996 team winning gold, I found out that LSU had a gymnastics team. I have been a loyal follower and fan of the LSU ladies for a good 26 years or...

 I am sure this is rather obvious, but I have not been posting on here as much as I had planned. I was in a writing block phase recently, and this blog has not acted as the right tool to resolve it. In the beginning of the year and toward the end of last year, I thought that the blog would be the answer. I was wrong. You see, as a writer, we go through phases where one tool works better than the other. For the next couple of weeks, I am going to be focusing on posting on a website called The Prose. This site gives me an opportunity to have my writing seen and read and it offers a chance for me to put myself out there... At this point, I am not sure when I will be back on the blog. I am hoping to make a regular return in about 2 months. So come read my stuff on www.Theprose.com

 Hello, there, my people, I have taken this week to focus on a writing contest sponsored by www.biopage.com. I will be uploading my essay to the BioPage website tomorrow. I will post about it on here as well. PLEASE GO AND READ IT!!  I have never won anything in my life, and I would absolutely love it if I were to win a writing contest! This might sound kind of weird, but winning something like that would really boost my confident and alleviate much of my doubt. Thank you so much in advance for your continuing support!!

 Hi, there, everyone.  Let me explain. I have been dealing with a particularly annoying depression episode this week, and I made the decision to take the week off from postings on this page, Monday not included. I should back on my regular schedule come Monday. I am going to be signing up for a writing project/contest on www.biopage.com and the essay will probably be posted here on my blog. It has to be linked to a website, and I figured that linking it here would be the wisest choice. I cannot lie, I am a little nervous about putting my writing out there because there are so many other tremendously talented writers out there. Things like this really put me into a challenging sort of mindset. I figure they are good for me because even if I don't win, (Which I am highly doubtful about) I still am giving myself the opportunity for others to take a peek at my work.  I am also giving other people a chance to judge me as well based on my writing, which is where the nervous par...

 Hello there to all of my blog readers, I want to start out this blog by apologizing for not making a post yesterday. It was one of those days where I just didn't have the motivation to do anything and to be truthful, was not feeling like myself at all. Depression is tricky like that. It will sneak up on you for no reason and make you feel sad and down. I am still sort of feeling off, but I thought I would come on here and say hello. To make up for missing yesterday, I am going to post on Friday.  Even though I don't feel that great, I still feel like I need to keep up with this project. I am not sure what the posts will look like, but we will just roll with it. I am the type of person who just likes to go with the flow and do what I want and wherever my mood takes me... so we shall see.

Happiness is something everyone wants. It's the singular emotion that everyone seems to chase in a circle, but they never can catch it. It's like playing a game of duck duck goose and never getting to the goose. It's elusive. The devil tells us this when we are spinning out of control with sadness and depression. It's something we see in others, but never imagine seeing in ourselves. You see, the depression scratches and claws in an attempt to completely destroy and ravage you. It comes in with that specific plan and agenda and doesn't leave until it is complete.  This leaves you confused and confined by sadness. After about a month or two, you tire of crying until your vision is blurred  You decide to make a change and seek help from a therapist for the sake of your mental health. You realize later that this was the best decision you could've made for yourself. After a few months of investing in yourself, you notice a complete change in your happiness levels. I...

 Ever feel like you are falling with no one there to catch you? Are you scared you may fall and never get back up to return to what you know? That can be a very harrowing and traumatic experience. It may be clinically known as a panic or an anxiety attack. They are relentless and have the ability to throw their victims over the edge and down into a deep hole, which we may clinically refer to as depression.  Certain people who are around you and have not experienced this are going to convince you to get over it and move on. Even though this may sound ugly, and even worse, insensitive, but remember they don't and will never understand. People, by simple nature, are selfish and often have a difficult time putting themselves in other's shoes. They only have the natural capacity to focus on what they have experienced or been through. Sometimes, they will attempt to relate by telling you that they have a relative or close friend going through the same or similar experience and they ...

 Happy Wednesday! I apologize for missing out on a post yesterday! To be honest, I didn't even really end up getting on my computer until the evening, and once I was on the computer, the writing was the last thing I felt like doing. As an independent writer, it seems like I am fighting a constant battle with motivation. I often have to talk to myself and convince myself that what I do is meaningful, even if my audience doesn't even read what I have to say. I am not naive and know that happens. However, for the sake of losing all hope, I write anyway. Fellow writers, please tell me I am not alone in this. There have been some periods in my life where I go months without typing a single word related to projects. When that happens, I argue with myself and say that I need to produce, but sometimes, my mind doesn't listen. During extensive breaks, I often wonder how and when I will ever gain the skill back. It is an everyday fight. Some of the population may see writing as a glo...