Ever since I became a teenager, I was set on the idea of getting a tattoo. My mom has several, and my sister got her first one when she was 18, so I felt like it was a right of passage for me to also get one. For years I bounced back and forth between ideas of what I wanted to get, but could never think of something that truly felt right.
For a while, I even backed away from the idea of getting one (much to my dad's delight). However, one day, an idea of what I wanted hit me out of nowhere. I booked an appointment at a tattoo studio after much research and waited to be tatted up.
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Getting a tattoo wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. My tattoo has a lot of personal meaning to me, and now that it's on me forever, I can honestly say I will never regret getting it. Here are five things I learned from the experience.
1. Research is important
Before I seriously began planning my tattoo, I never realized how much research went into it. I spent hours deciding where I wanted it, who I wanted to do it, and what I wanted a tattoo of. Tattoos will stay on you forever, so you have to be sure you know what you are getting yourself into.
2. Don't rush it
Since my parents told me I couldn't get a tattoo until I was 18, I felt like I had to get one as soon as I turned 18. Even though I don't regret my decision whatsoever, looking back on it I was a little rushed to get my first tattoo. I'm super happy with how it came out, but if I decided to tattoo any of the other 1,000 ideas that ran through my head, I would not have been as happy.
3. You won't know how much it hurts until you get it done
Before I got mine done, I asked everyone I knew with tattoos how much it would hurt. Everyone gave me different answers, and I was super nervous that I would be crying out in pain. Depending on where you get your tattoo done, and how high your pain tolerance is, it hurts differently for everyone. Luckily for me, mine wasn't bad at all!
4. Half the time, you won't even think about your tattoo
My tattoo is a little bigger than the size of my palm, but most of the time, I forget that I even have it. I love looking at it and being reminded of the meaning behind it, but I think about it much less than I thought I would. I always believed getting a tattoo would be my new defining factor, but that's far from the truth. It blends in with the rest of me!
5. You'll get both positive and negative comments on your tattoo
Even though almost everyone who says something about my tattoo does it to compliment me, I have had people close to me tell me future employers won't like it, or it's too big, etc. So many people today have tattoos, and people will always be quick to tell you their opinions. The only one who can decide what you do with your body is you, so don't let other's get to you!
