18 is a wonderful age when you legally get to do all sorts of fun things such as voting, signing your own medical forms, booking a hotel room, buying a lottery ticket, going sky diving, gambling, joining the military, and my personal favorite... getting a tattoo! Some may think the minute you turn 18 is too young to get a tattoo or could easily be making a permanent mistake at this newly adult age, however I couldn’t think of a more perfect time.

Aside from all of the technical things you now can legally do at 18, a lot changes. Even if we don’t realize it, we are becoming who we are meant to be. On our way through high school we constantly hear how much more difficult it’s going to get once we’re “in the real world” and I don’t doubt that at all. However, it doesn’t mean that the everyday stresses of teenage life are any less difficult and that we don’t struggle.

I remember one of the first times the saying “Fall down 7 times, stand up 8” resonated with me. My sport of gymnastics has always been a huge part of my life. There have certainly been ups and downs, good meets and bad meets. At level 8 states in 2012 it was one of those bad meets. After falling on three events, I was certainly not in the best frame of mind going into the last and my least favorite event, beam. However, I pulled it together and didn’t let all of the times I messed up effect how I ended off the day. I finished beam with one of my best scores of the season and although the day hadn’t gone as planned I remember my coach at the time telling me “Fall down 7 times, stand up 8.”

Another time in my life when this inspired me to keep moving forward was in 2015 when I took a hard fall at practice and tore my ACL a week before regionals. Inevitably, my season was over I needed surgery and was devastated. Once again, I knew that I wasn’t going to let this stop me from moving forward with what I loved to do, gymnastics, and after months and months of rehab I slowly rebuilt myself to walk, climb stairs, run, and compete in gymnastics again. Outside of gymnastics, this phrase has continued to push me through hardship. Everyone has their own battles whether internal, external, or both. This confusing age where you feel as if you’re half responsible for yourself and half still holding onto your parents hands well, it can kind of just suck. The bad days seem like they’re never going to end and sometimes it’s okay not to be okay.When the positive side to things is unclear it may seem like there will never be one. No matter how many people give you advice or try and help you solve the issues you’re having, it has to come from within yourself to make the most of the life you were given and to be content.

So yes, 18 may be a young age to make such a permanent decision. For me, this tattoo serves as a reminder of every struggle thus far I have made it through and to keep going when I feel like I can't.