Tattoos are addictive. Ask anyone with ink and they will tell you the same thing. As a tattoo addict myself, I couldn’t tell you why I crave more of them. They aren’t very pleasant to get, and the permanence of them is frankly frightening. Maybe it is the adrenaline and the thrill or maybe it is the control of choosing what you want to put on your body. What I do know is that I love my tattoos, when I look at them I’m reminded of the personal reasons behind them. Getting a tattoo has five stages, from the moment you think about it to the moment the tattoo is finally healed.

Longing

I typically begin my tattoo process by falling in love with an idea or a design. My first tattoo I wanted for years before I actually got it. My last one I thought about for over eight months. I know, I always tend to wait a long time. But, I do that because I want to be 100 percent sure of my choice. The permanence of a tattoo is not something to be taken lightly. Personally, I don’t want to look at my ink thirty or forty years from now and think about how stupid I was when I got it. So, I wait, and I’m not very patient. I talk about it, I think about, and boy, do I want to get it. But I make myself wait until I am completely confident.

Excitement

This comes when confidence is at an all time high and I have made my appointment. I am so excited to get my tattoo, I can hardly wait for the day I can finally go through with it. I tell everyone about it, and I pour over the Internet reading about healing and pain management tips. I also love to watch videos on YouTube of other people telling their tattoo stories, it makes me think of how happy I’ll be once the tattoo is on my body.

Fear

I get anxious easily, over a lot of things, but I get extremely nervous before getting a tattoo. I wake up the day of my appointment with knots in my stomach and worry in my mind. I know that I am confident in getting a tattoo, but I can’t help but remember my fear of needles and pain. That feeling of anxiety sticks with me until the needle pierces my skin for the first time. Then the next stage kicks in.

Pain

This is about the time I ask myself, “Why the hell did I want to do this?” It’s been explained a thousand times, the feeling of a needle piercing your skin over and over and over again. In my experience, it varies on the location of the tattoo. My rib tattoo, that pain was unreal. It felt as though someone was literally slicing my side with a sharp knife every time the needle touched my skin. Other spots, I would compare it to someone snapping a rubber band against my skin repeatedly. Again, not pleasant, but it was bearable.

Elation

It could be the adrenaline of getting the tattoo, but once my tattoos were completed I was elated. I always had a huge smile looking back at me in the tattoo parlors mirror along with my freshly done tattoo. Even hours, days, weeks later I have been incredible happy about the designs I choose to add to my body. This stage always reminds me that it was all worth it. But, I would be stupid not to say that if someone isn’t sure about getting a tattoo, or gets one without thinking about it for long enough, they may not reach this stage. Always be sure and confident in tattoo choices.