The first tattoo that I ever got was on October 12, just two months into starting college. Anyone that knows me, knows that I have always wanted this tattoo and that I would constantly draw it on my wrist in sharpie. It is the word dreamer with the “D” being a dream catcher. My mom was unaware that I was getting this, and to be honest she wasn’t too happy about it. Still many of my other family members aren’t aware that I have this tattoo, and I know that they wouldn’t approve of it either.

I know that everyone has their own opinion on tattoos, and I know for those that aren’t a fan of tattoos won’t change their minds about mine or others but I hope to just explain what tattoos can mean to a person. There always seems to be an argument about them, and how they’re permanent; as if those with tattoos didn’t already know that. Even if you’re against tattoos, the least you could do is listen to the person’s story behind it instead of immediately knocking them for it.

As I said before I knew for a long time that I wanted it to be my first tattoo. I began looking into tattoo parlors around me, and then when I found the one I liked the most I looked into the artist that I wanted to do it. We emailed back and forth for several days and I went to the tattoo parlor with a drawing that I had of what I wanted, she brought it into the back room and touched it up for me, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. For anyone that has never gotten a tattoo, I guess it depends on the placement in which you get it but for me, it didn’t hurt a bit. It just felt like a scratching on the skin.

After posting the picture above to Facebook and Instagram I was asked by serval people, “Why that tattoo?” I got this tattoo because it has meaning to me. I have always been a dreamer; I believe there is always good things to come and that anyone can achieve anything if they put their mind to it. Sometimes life can be overwhelming, and there’s always going to be people that are going to put you down and even you will tend to put yourself down. I have to say that I am a big component of that.I always think that I can do better, or that I’m not doing well enough; I am my biggest critic and sometimes I break myself down. Whenever I look down at my wrist I know that I have to remember to keep chasing my dreams no matter what obstacles come my way, and there have been plenty of them.

“How are you going to be a role model to the kids you want to work with?”

This was one of my favorite questions because contrary to popular belief, I’m still the same person with or without tattoos. You shouldn’t judge a person just because they have a tattoo. Tattoos don’t define a person, they may help to represent who they are but it doesn’t make them a bad individual. I am the same person I was the day before I got the tattoo, and the days to come after.

“You’re not going to get a job.”

I can wear a long sleeve shirt to cover up my tattoo, but if a company is going to make an assumption of my work ethic based on the tattoos I have then it’s not the place I want to work for. Tattoos don’t affect the way a person performs a job and it’s ridiculous if a person doesn’t get a job because of this. Receiving a job should be based on how hard you work, people with tattoos can work just as hard as those without them and sometimes even better; I can guarantee the tattoos have nothing to do with that either, it’s all about the mindset.

So a lot of you may frown upon tattoos, but to me they symbolize a person’s life and they carry them proudly upon their skin. I am proud of the tattoo I have and the tattoos that I may have later on, hopefully, others can see the meaning behind what I have permanently engraved on my skin and the story of my life that it tells.