Before I got my first tattoo about two years ago, I never imagined that I would ever want one. Since then, I’ve gotten five more. I got most of my tattoos as little reminders to myself but I do have light-hearted ones (well, one), as well. In this post, I’d like to share the meanings behind them with you all, in an attempt to be a little bit more open than I have been in the past.
- The first tattoo is of the quote, “My life is mine.” I’d first heard it in a talk given by Tracee Ellis Ross. I was originally going to get a different quote but I felt like that one fit so perfectly with what I was going through at the time. I got it as a reminder to myself that no matter who I’m with or what I’m going through, how I choose to live my life is my choice. I loved this talk so much and would love to share it with you all. You can find it here. Below is a picture of the tattoo.
- My next tattoo was/still is my most lighthearted one. It’s a phrase that I say a lot. I’m always saying “It’s fine” and so my cousin dared me to get it tattooed. And that’s the story.
- My third tattoo was a tattoo that I drew myself of a tree. It was based on a pretty long Madea quote about letting the toxic people in your life go. I’d been planning to get this tattoo since I’d gone to group therapy the year before and they asked us to draw a picture of something that represented our year, as a whole. You can find the quote in the form of a video here. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite videos.
- The fourth tattoo that I got was one of flowers growing out of an upside down triangle. It was intended to be a representation of growth and a reminder that I will grow through whatever I go through.
- The fifth tattoo I got was of the quote, “C’est la vie.” It means such is life and was taken from the song Free by Rudimental. I’ve always loved that part of the song and the saying is indicative of how I’d ideally like to see life: it is what it is.
- My sixth tattoo, and most current one is a wave with a sun, surrounded by vines. I found a lot of the idea from pinterest but I decided to get it when I went to my first therapy session while I was on deployment to Japan. The one thing that she said that stuck with me then (and that I decided that I wanted to stick with me forever, lol) is that when you’re dealing with a lot of heavy emotions, just see those feelings as a wave. Waves come and go but you never try to stop them, so that’s the way I should handle my feelings: let them come and go quickly. Don’t try to control how you feel. I’ve definitely been trying to live that advice day to day, and that tattoo continues to be a reminder for me.
Well, thank you all for reading. Those are the reasonings behind all six of my tattoos and more are definitely coming! I hope you took something (?) away from this post. See you guys soon!
Through the Softest Eyes 