Once upon a time, a few years ago now, I was having a quiet afternoon with a friend with a small amount of money in pocket and no ideas on how to keep us entertained for the afternoon. Suddenly my friend stumbled on an idea...
"Let's get your tongue pierced!" she said. Now, this is something I'd wanted to do for quite some time but had never really had the balls to do so, when she suggested it on a whim, I trusted her judgement and off we went to the piercing shop.
A short while later I was pierced and drooling and feeling very happy with myself. Years later I still have that piercing and, when I notice it's presence, I'm reminded of the moment we decided to go and get it done and that feeling always makes me smile.
For me, it wasn't about being pierced. It wasn't about the prestige or trying to impress people, or even to prove that I could do it. It was about having the experience at all, making that decision to do something and actually experiencing it for myself instead of being told about it by someone else and wistfully wondering "some day...".
That desire to experience things is what keeps me going and is as good as any raison d'être that I can think of and it's for this reason that I want to get a tattoo. Not because I think tattoos are beautiful, not because I think they're cool and certainly not because other people have done it so I should too. I want to be able to experience what it feels like and I want to have the opportunity to regret it or to be proud of what I've done.
And so I'm deciding what to get and making plans to get it done. If you have a tattoo(s), what made you get it and what made you choose the design you got?
3 comments:
As I've been saying all along: Go for it!
I got my first one when I was 20, as you know. Why? I'm not entirely sure if I'm honest. Perhaps it was a mix of knowing quite a few people who had one (or a few) together with being young and wanting to try everything.
As for what I have had done, I put quite a lot of thought and effort into the both of them and that's why I don't think I will ever regret my choices.
I searched long and hard for a quote in Ancient Greek which I liked and then personalised it. Why Greek? I wanted it to be something that not everybody could read, that looked good and also as a little nod to all the hard work that went into learning the language.
As for the second tattoo, I got it in Latin for similar reasons and that quote related specifically to all the change that was going on at the time and is a reminder that that's how it should always be :)
Just be warned that once you have one, you may want more ;)
Brilliant post. Like with your tongue piercing, I remember getting my first tattoo very clearly. I'd been arguing with my other half, he'd been a bit controlling, I was feeling a little suffocated in the relationship.
Off I went, aged all of 31, to the tattooists. I have a raven tattoo in the small of my back. For me it's a quietly defiant statement of freedom. "Try and control me all you like, but inside I'm free."
There's a second meaning for my raven too: I believe in nature, the power of the natural world and with that I have a mild interest in pagan mythology, wicca and animal lore. There are fascinating stories about ravens; good, bad and magical.
I'll always remember coming home and within about 3 hours confessing that "If I smell like the vets, it's because I got a tattoo". And his face. Ha!
Since then I have a butterfly (meh), a flower on my back and a big, tribal lily design on my shoulder. And I'm planning another, a swallow on my neck (really visible).
As Hannah said, go for it!
Claire x
(English Wedding blog)
Thanks Ladies! Lots to ponder.
Claire, I love your reasons. I think something as permanent as a tattoo should be for a reason, to mark a point in your life and put a stamp on it. I'm sure, at some point, I'll work out what's right for me and, like you both said, go for it!
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