For me tattoos are a form of art and self-expression. Tattoos have different meanings and symbols behind them, for example the ever so popular semicolon tattoo made popular by Project Semicolon in 2013. “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end a sentence but choose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.” Or an anchor that most commonly represents stability and strength. A lot of tattoos with meaning can be seen as “trendy” and to someone who doesn’t have tattoos or thinks that they are bad ideas or regrettable down the line will say that you are just following a trend and not getting a tattoo with meaning. To this I say that trendy tattoos have a common ground but different meaning to the wearer.

I’ve always loved and been obsessed with tattoos since my siblings got tattoos, and multiple at that. I couldn’t wait until I was 18 to finally get my first tattoo. As I said I couldn’t wait until I was eighteen, so during Spring Break 2016 in Florida at seventeen I got my firs tattoo, an arrow with glyphs in the shaft. I knew right away what tattoo I wanted and where I wanted it, I settled on the left side of my ribs. The meaning of a arrow is that ‘An arrow can only go forward be shot by pulling it back. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties it means it’s going to launch you into something great.” Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of symbolism, and this fits the bill perfectly. I also wanted to incorporate my goals and what I wanted to be a better version of myself; to be content, have harmony in my life, and a sense of adventure. I came across glyphs and thought I have to incorporate these in some way and I so happy with how my tattoo came out.

I was told my a few people to “wait until I was out of college” or “why do you want a tattoo”. But the reason I got a tattoo because it’s a reminder to keep moving forward and frankly I think tattoos are awesome. I have plans for more tattoos all with different meanings. They are a form of self-expression that I’m proud to display because I had a hard time getting it but I got through it with a badass tattoo.