When I was little I use to love the temporary tattoos, especially the glittery ones. My mom told me once that she always knew I would end up with a real tattoo. I didn’t, I was and still am terrified of needles (mostly the medical kind). As I got older though, the idea of a tattoo became more and more appealing. I planned on getting one when I turned eighteen, but life got in the way and I never knew what I wanted to get. I wanted a tattoo that meant something to me. I wanted it to have importance and I wanted it to be unique. I didn’t want to just take a picture from Pinterest and get a replica of someone else’s tattoo.

I don’t feel like I have to justify my tattoos. It’s my body and I can do whatever I want. I know what my tattoos mean and I know they have significance. I didn’t just get something that looked cute. I know when I got my first tattoo people asked my mom why she let me do that to my body. Mind you I was twenty when I got my first tattoo. People always ask what my tattoo says, but they never ask what it means to me.

I have two tattoos: one is on my back and one is on my right arm. The one on my back says Be confident enough to fly with your own wings and there are three birds underneath it. The one on my arm is the word inspire with a semi-colon as the second “i”. I originally just had the word, but I ended up going back and getting a book put underneath with two pages incasing the word. Everybody just sees the book and assumes it’s because I like books. Yes, I do like books, but that’s not why I got the tattoo.

I got the tattoo on my back to remind me that I am capable of more than some people tell me I am. I’m capable of doing things on my own when people tell me I can’t. I got it because I spent longer than I ever needed to believing that I would fail on my own. I believed what other’s told me about myself when those people didn’t really know me if they thought those things. I needed to be confident enough in myself to realize what I was actually capable of.

I got the inspire tattoo on my arm for the semicolon. I was a cutter in high school and even though I eventually stopped, it’s still a part of my life in a way. It may not define me, but it shaped me. I learned about the Semicolon Project and I instantly fell in love with the idea. A semicolon is used when an author could have ended a sentence but chose not to. The fact that I’m also a writer was an additive bonus to the concept. I added the book because, yes I love to read, but certain books that I have read have really inspired me to do more and be more.

So before you judge another person for what they have on their body, maybe you should just ask them what they mean to them. It may seem trivial to you and you may not understand who could do that to their body, but they mean something to that person. The pain from the needle isn’t as scary once you see the end result. A piece of art that expresses who you are. It’s true what they say though, they are definitely addictive!