I used to believe that every tattoo I got needed to have meaning behind it. I was determined to make each and every bit of ink on my skin be somehow relevant and significant to my life.Almost two years later, and here I am with a Panda and a Krampus tattoo on the same arm. Sure, Pandas are my favorite animal. I like the movie Krampus.
Of course, I get constant questions (especially thanks to working in retail) about what my tattoos mean, and why it was so important for me to get it permanently put into my skin. I'm here to debunk the myth of tattoos needing to be meaningful. It's not actually that deep.
1. It's your body.
No one should have any kind of opinion on what you do with your own body. Want Batman tattooed on you? Cinderella? A coffee cup? Who freaking cares? It's your body, and you should be the only one concerned about liking it.
2. It can just be something you think looks cool.
This seems to be highly rebuked, but honestly, who is to determine what is considered important enough to get put on you? Krampus isn't my favorite movie, but I like it, and having a creepy hand holding a snow globe makes me feel pretty badass, so I picked it.
3. Life is too short to take it so seriously.
If you want your tattoos to have meaning, that's totally fine. However, I'm a strong believer in living in the moment and not overthinking everything. You shouldn't have to sit there and debate forever on the importance of what you're putting on your body. Granted, you need to take a little time and make sure you like it and that it won't keep you from getting the job you want one day. The point is that if you want to be tatted, don't stress it so much. Have fun with it.
4. It's art.
Once I had ink, I felt like a canvas. I have all of the freedom in the world to intertwine all of the images on my body in whatever way I please. I feel like a walking masterpiece in progress, and it's the coolest thing ever to me.
5. We all get wrinkly anyway.
When you get older and still have a silly tattoo that you adore, you're going to look at it and smile. You won't be upset about enjoying the life you were given. That would be utterly ridiculous. On top of that, you will probably reach an age to where your skin gets so loose that you can't even tell what the tattoo is anymore.
At the end of the day, you really just have to stop caring what everyone else thinks. Get that Bart Simpson tattoo you want. You deserve it dude. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Life is honestly entirely too short to actually care. Make yourself happy and forget everything else!
