A lifelong commitment. A promise of forever. One of the most permeant decisions one can make. No, I’m most definitely not talking about marriage. I’m talking about injecting ink inside the layers of the epidermis in a specified pattern in which it will permanently remain.

Tattoos. I’m talking about tattoos.

As a young child, I was very aware of what tattoos were. My older brother was covered in them. He started getting his sleeve done when I was a kid, and by the time I graduated high school, the art had spread to cover his other arm and chest. Growing up, I had zero interest in ever getting one myself.

But as I grow older, I find myself more attracted to the body art I see spattered across Pinterest. Now I find that I am caught in a battle between myself on whether or not to take the leap and get inked. I have therefore decided to construct a collection of the pros and cons of getting a tattoo. Although my arguments are slightly personal to myself, I hope that through displaying my inner monologue, I can shed some light on the topic if the reader finds themselves with a similar struggle.

Cons:

Plain and simple, a tattoo lasts forever. It’s a permeant mark on the body that won’t go away with soap and water. My personal biggest fear about getting a tattoo would be the fear that in 20 years from now, I’m going to hate it. That I will be embarrassed by its existence. That someone thing I thought was meaningful to me now will be meaningless in 30 years. I’m also concerned about changing my mind on what I got a tattoo of. These past couple years, I have juggled various ideas and have not yet settled on one I love.

Pros:

Tattoos are a very cool way of expressing a piece of art on your body. For me, I would want whatever I decided to get to be meaningful. I want a reminder of something to myself. Also, at its core, I think tattoos are really pretty. Although a tattoo is permeant, there are also methods of removal (however painful and expensive that may be). I could always look at a tattoo as a motivation to be successful enough in the future to have the option to get it removed. Another factor is that tattoos are hideable. You can get them in places that won’t ever see the light of day in a work environment.

I think at the end of the day a tattoo is a personal decision that only the person contemplating getting one can truly make. After all, it is your body that you have to live in for the next however many years. Just do yourself a favor and don’t get the name of a significant other.