My Viral Moment on TikTok

For years, I have resisted TikTok.

Facebook and Instagram seemed like plenty. Who needs one more social media platform to suck my soul?

But then….

I noticed a significant down-tick in activity/interaction on my Facebook posts (I never had much on IG to begin with). I wondered, are people tired of Facebook or bored with me?

I decided to venture onto TikTok because I feel SO strongly about the current animal shelter crisis and was looking for a bigger microphone. I threw a few videos onto the platform – my dogs face-wrestling, Diamond and her bucket, and a couple of me preaching it about the shelter situation.

I got a few thousand views. More than Facebook.

And then last week, on a whim with the puppy room complete and a big bunch of fosters headed my way, I put up a video tour of my foster cottage.

And wow. At the time of this writing, that video has 1.1 million views.

And I have to be honest; it feels a little unsettling that over a million people have been inside my foster cottage/office now.

I look around at this space that Nick and I have crafted out of the smelly, filthy, leaky space we started with and wonder why it’s so special. My friend Nancy says the reason the cottage video is so popular is because people are voyeuristic. Having read through the hundreds (and hundreds) of comments, it seems it’s actually that more than a million people want to foster on this level.

Which makes me wish I was Oprah and could give every person who commented, “This is my dream,” a foster cottage of their own. Shelter problem solved.

Devoting an entire cottage to fostering is a little extreme. Sure, my writing desk is also in there, but 90% of the space is devoted to the dogs. And they remain my best subject matter. My dog books eclipsed my novels in terms of sales.

But the thing is, I didn’t start out with a foster cottage or a book deal. I started by fostering one dog and writing about that experience. And then another. And then another.

It comes back to what I believe is the secret to success in any endeavor—follow your heart. Not stupidly, mind you. The bad guy is still the bad guy and he won’t change. But listen to your core—what (not who) do you love? What fulfills your soul? What do you do that when you do it, makes your heart fill up? What feels ‘right’?

Maybe that is a bit woo-woo, and sure, most people have to make a living. I’ll be the first person to say I am stupid lucky because I have an incredible husband who supports what I do and believes it’s just as valuable as what he does, even if it makes nearly no money.

But following your heart in your endeavors doesn’t have to be about making a living; you can have a job and still follow your heart in other ways. Like fostering. Like writing. Like singing. Like helping people. Like making art. Like telling stories. Like fixing things.

Mary Oliver famously asked, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?”

It’s a question we all need to ask.

I don’t know that one viral video on TikTok will change my fortunes, but it has been confirmation that following my heart and doing this crazy dog-saving thing isn’t so crazy. I used to think I was an oddity. But now I know that there are at least another 1.1 million oddballs out there, too.

If you want to see the TikTok fame for yourself, click here.

Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’ve got lots of options, so thanks for sharing a few of your minutes with me.

Honored,

Cara

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If you’re a dog lover, check out my other blog, Another Good Dog. And if you want to know what is really happening in the animal shelters in this country, visit, Who Will Let the Dogs Out, and subscribe to the blog I write there.

I’d love to connect with you on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Substack, and I’m thrilled to get email from readers (and writers), you can reach me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.

My latest novel, Blind Turn is a mother-daughter story of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. It won the Womens Fiction category of the American Writing Awards. Learn more about it and find out how to get your copy here.