"How ironic, your permanent ink tattoo says, "This too shall pass!"

Yes, so ironic, so hilarious. I've never heard that joke before.

So, why did I get these four words tattooed on my arm?

In order to understand the importance of the quote, you should understand where it originally came from.

Many say that "This Too Shall Pass" comes from a Jewish wisdom folklore. In the folklore, King Solomon wanted to humble Benaiah Ben Yahoyada. He gave Benaiah a task to find the ring that, when worn, will make the happy man sad and the sad man happy. King Solomon told Benaiah to be back by Sukkot so he could wear the ring and show it off to all of the Ministers, even though no such ring really existed. Benaiah searched for the ring, but could not find it anywhere. On the night before Sukkot, Benaiah stopped and asked a merchant if he knew of said ring. The merchant gave to Benaiah a gold ring, with which there were three Hebrew letters inscribed: a gimel, zayin, and yud. The letters abbreviated "Gam Zeh Ya'avor." Translate that to English and it says "This Too Shall Pass". When Benaiah returned to King Solomon with the ring, King Solomon was in awe. He sent Benaiah out on an impossible task, but Benaiah completed it anyways. When he was given the ring, Solomon realized that all of the wealth, wisdom, and power would not last forever, and one day he will be nothing more than dust, just like everybody else.

So the quote stands as a reminder that it doesn't matter how bad things are, it's only temporary; stay positive. It doesn't matter how great things are, it's not going to last forever; stay humble. A reminder for the times when you're feeling a little extra anxious that you're going to get through it and everything is going to be okay.

So next time you're feeling upset and getting down on yourself, and the next time you are feeling super excited and showing it off to the world, just remember:

This too shall pass.