I love tattoos. More importantly I love my tattoos. I use them to express myself in a permanent and beautiful way. Before I began my inking journey I was warned constantly that being tattooed would affect me in my future career, and how I wasn't fully grasping the depth of the decision I would make by allowing myself to make such marks on my body. With all of these warnings in mind, I sat in the chair and let the process begin. Since that moment I've been hooked. There is a unique mindset that develops when you have tattoos. At first I felt like I was part of some elite group that somehow enjoyed being stabbed repeatedly to show off who they are as a person. But the longer I have mine, the more I have realized how normalized tattoos are and it is such a great step for our society.

For the longest time, employers were highly against tattoos. Thankfully this stigma against tattooed employees is quickly becoming obsolete. More and more individuals, especially those coming in into the workforce directly after college, are more willing to be open to show tattoos at interviews. Doing so is constantly encouraging the idea that tattoos don't mark you as a degenerate, they simply help you to define yourself as an individual. There is a trend for older employees and employers to start accumulating tattoos in order to begin to build stronger bonds with the younger employees. Tattoos aren't something that should define what direction you go in in your professional life and thankfully this is an actively growing theme.

"You know those are permanent, right?"

What? No! Seriously? I had no idea. This is probably my favorite comment. Because here's the thing, who in their right mind would pay upwards of $100, sit through a sometimes very painful process, for art that would last a couple days? NO! If I'm going to go through all that trouble, it had better be there forever. Part of that is what makes tattoos so special, it also can make getting one a very high risk decision. I can understand why this idea of forever could give someone pause. What if in ten years you hate what you chose? I personally like each of my tattoos to have a deep meaning to me. Something that I have thought on deeply and identify with on more than one level. I view them as a personal reminder of the goals I have for myself. They serve as a physical expression to the world of what i stand for and hold dearest to me.

Whether you choose to have tattoos or not is completely up to you. Either way, be open minded. Self expression wouldn't really be honest if you had to express yourself a certain way. Embrace this freedom in any way you see fit.