Live and Let Live

A couple of months ago I was as cliche as humanly possible.

It was the first night of spring break and I was sitting in a seedy tattoo shop on a sketchy street in downtown LA just a block up from the infamous 1OAK.

Here I was watching my sister get the exact same tattoo I would soon have.

But something kept stopping me. Me, of all people, was the LAST person who should have been sitting there.

Moral of the story is I was convinced that I can't have a tattoo, I'm too blonde, I'm too conservative. I was a cheerleader, a ballerina, a lover of any and all pop boy bands. A tattoo just didn't fit into the mold of the person I expected myself to be. I needed to wear pink and sparkles and never taint my skin.

Except, I really wanted it.

I loved the design, I loved that it matched my sister, and it was about the size of a penny hidden behind my ear.

I ended up leaving the shop with a tiny tattoo that even I forget I have most of the time.

I learned something in that tiny shop, I learned that I need to stop putting myself into a box, and I really need to stop putting other people into boxes as well.

So what if one day I want to show off my tattoo, wear a whole lot of leather and stomp around strictly listening to rap then the next day walk around in converse and a sun dress singing country music at the top of my lungs.

In a world with so much hate and anger, with everyone telling people what and who they should be, we need to just let ourselves be.

Everyone these days is full of judgment. Half the population wants to accept each other and the other half will die to keep us apart. Everyday people are fighting to just be themselves over things they cannot control. You can't control your race or gender or sexual orientation, but you can control how you choose to live your life.

Everyone needs to choose their own happiness. If dressing like a crazed 90's grunge star makes you happy then do it, if covering your body in tattoos makes you happy do it, if draping pearls from every possible surface of your body makes you happy, for gods sake wear the pearls. If a tiny '6' behind your ear makes you happy and reminds you of home then you should go right on ahead and tattoo it on your body, and no one should tell you otherwise.

We need to do what makes us happy. We need to dress how we want and listen to whatever music we want.

I truly belive in the quote "live and let live" no matter how cheesy and Canadian of me that might be. And I believe that that extends to yourself. Let yourself live how you want to, please stop thinking about what other people want and how everyone else will view you. Live your life for you and enjoy every minute.