On Writing and Happiness

Hi there, my name is Bela. I’m just another cat, but that’s not going to stop me from living the life of my dreams.

It may appear to be a stretch for someone with thin whiskers like me, but it’s my life and I’m going to live it the way I choose.

I had never wanted to be just a domestic cat. Never. I wanted to be somebody.

Forgive me for being so outspoken, but I don’t understand why some people keep talking about a vicious reality when they create it for themselves.

Like, they say I’ll be happy once I’ve earned a million dollars. It is a little like expecting that if you don’t have a million dollars, then you will be tortured. What? What is this torture? Where will it be inflicted? On what part of your body?

I am not saying that humans should be happy with zero dollars in their pocket, I’m just saying that expectations are cruel and unusual punishment.

Meanwhile, the sun is rising, and life goes on regardless of what you have.

Some people are always trying to MAKE themselves happy, but never do they consider BEING happy. There is a huge difference between the two, and I think that if anybody were to follow their true calling, happiness would be much easier to find. But don’t quote me on that, I am not an expert or a certified life coach — I am just a cat with an opinion and my own way of seeing things.

Okay, granted, I’m not extraordinary in any way, but at least I don’t have unreasonable expectations. Right now, I’m attempting to be happy with everything I’ve got rather than stressing out about what I don't have.

Like, I knew I liked writing, so I decided to take it and run with it.

These days, pretty much anyone can write anything for a wide audience without leaving the house, as long as you have an Internet connection or at least a smartphone.

So if you’re feeling spontaneous and want to write, don’t overthink — write.

At first, I thought I wanted to be compensated for my work. Not so fast. I conducted some research and discovered a few sites, that looked for freelancers to produce online content, but I had no writing background, so nobody would hire me.

It didn’t matter though because if you don’t get what you want, you can always find something else.

So I set out to do whatever I had to do, mostly writing on Vocal, where they don’t ask for any expertise or credentials and in a short period of time, I got my audience …

It was not easy at first. I had to write more than 1000 words each day, and eventually, it became second nature for me.

But as time went on, my work started getting noticed, and soon I had people sharing my stories everywhere on social media…

I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way — never underestimate how easy is to lose your audience. If you’re not putting your heart into your writing, people will stop reading your stories. Harsh, but this is how it works.

It’s all about the quality of work in the end. That’s what matters in life — not money, not fame, but the pleasure of doing some great work. Again, don’t quote me on that, it's just an opinion of a single cat — me.

I started making good money but something was missing. I wanted to become more than a house cat in Miami writing from home on Vocal.

And because I was always fascinated by foreign lands and people, I decided to write about them. Not just any places though — only the ones that had an untold story or were least documented so far.

That’s how I came up with this idea of writing about random destinations that are relatively unknown…but I had to go there! These are the tiny towns and weird locations that haven’t yet been indexed by Google.

It didn’t matter that the whole thing seemed ridiculous — it was too good of an idea not to put into practice.

I sent emails to various out-of-the-way governors of little localities but with no success or even a reply.

Then the universe came to my assistance; I met this guy on Tinder who was an airline pilot for a major international carrier, and he helped me find a really cheap flight (free actually) from Miami to the west-central Balkans at the southern end of the Dinaric Alps.

I had to travel in the cargo hold of an airplane, which would normally be a problem — but not for someone with big dreams.

Even though I was traveling with little money, I still wanted to see how far my determination could take me. There was something very special about doing this: it created a sense of freedom that I’d never felt before.

This is when I realized that life can be wonderful if you’re willing to work for it — and nothing beats the satisfaction of achieving something you really want.

It didn’t matter that I was hungry and covered in dust; what mattered was reaching my first obscure destination.

I ended up in a place called Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital. It was there where I found my first-ever travel writing opportunity: a local tourism blog that was desperately needed some tasty content.

I wasn’t paid for it, but I didn’t care — it was the beginning, the first step. I felt like a true adventurer because I was at the start of my journey as an international travel writer and nothing could stop me now.

Oh no, I’m not quitting Vocal! I can’t disappoint my devoted fans on this platform that started it all. There will be numerous and delicious postings here and soon. This is my promise to you!

Until my next installment: stay curious!

. . .

© Irina Patterson, February 11, 2022

Also published on Medium.

Thank you for reading, my other stories are here.

Love, Irina.