I am one of the first people to get a tattoo in my family, and in the past four months, I have gotten two. Needless to say, convincing my parents (although, I am technically an adult) that getting a new tattoo is a good idea is not always the easiest thing to accomplish. But with my newest tattoo, the conversation was much shorter and that is because the message behind my tattoo is so strong.
Recently I got a semicolon permanently tattooed on my left wrist. I'm sure that many of you have seen posts about semicolons or even have people you know with a semicolon tattoo of their own. But what I have found is that not everyone truly knows the reason behind the semicolon tattoo and why it is such an important message to those who get it.
As many people who come in contact with me know, I have depression and anxiety and it has been present in my life for much of its entirety. In the recent years, it has gotten worse and gotten better and followed that pattern time and time again. I have reached such lows in which I pondered whether or not it was worth it to keep going. But each time those thoughts crossed my mind I pushed on. I did not let my anxiety and depression slow me down or stop me.
And this mentality is precisely what the semicolon tattoo represents. Founded in 2013 by Amy Bluel, Project Semicolon's main goal is to show those struggling with suicidal ideations, depression, or any host of mental illnesses that their story is not over. A semicolon represents a point in a sentence where the author could have chosen to end the sentence but made the conscious choice to forge forward. Although the project is not solely based on tattoos that seem to be the form of displaying the semicolon a vast majority of people participating in the project take.
Ever since I first saw the project promoted on various social media outlets I was enraptured by the idea of getting a tattoo that holds so much meaning not only for myself but for others as well. Although I was not aware that I, myself, suffered from anxiety and depression when I was first introduced to the project I still had the desire to be marked by such an amazing project. But once I was diagnosed with those mental illnesses I knew that a semicolon would most certainly be one of the (perhaps many) tattoos I adorned my skin with.
After my first tattoo, a pair of scissors pointing to my conjoined toes, I knew that I had many more tattoos to come and that my next would be the semicolon. And I proud to say that I now support Project Semicolon and everything it stands for (permanently).
