hello hello helloooo

[mycow80]

Hi everyone, this is my introduction post.. I'm from Philly! I don't have any tattoos !!

The reason why is because I never knew what I would want on my body.. but I knew that it would need to mean something really important to me if I ever were to get one. I could just never figure out what could possibly mean so much to justify having one.

But I think I have found something that really means a lot to me. It all came to me after a really stupid but significant event in my life. I was drunk and sort-of instigated a fight and got punched in the face really bad... and started a horrible drama that lasted 5 weeks.. involving my job.. a ton of crap and it was just really stressful and sucked a lot. I guess I didn't really instigate it, but looking back there were clear times when I could've just ended it & allowed it to not escalate as bad as it did. Anyways, it sucked and I never want to go through anything like that ever again.

So the idea of my tattoo would be something that means to me/ prompts me to do the following:

- Stop

- Slow down

- Think things through

- Think about what could happen, and if I really want that to happen

- Act accordingly so that I don't get myself into some situation I don't want to be in

- Love the people close to me no matter what is happening / how I am feeling in that moment.

Whether it be my friends, boyfriend or whatever -- I don't ever want to hurt anyone, say anything that I will regret later, or do something really stupid. Also something that will remind me to be a good person, don't do stupid things and try to act in good ways so I have good karma. Sort of the way religious people can guide their lives by so that they can feel confident that they're a good person? I've already begun to try thinking this way quite a bit but it's not instilled in my mind yet; I don't know -- maybe having a tattoo that reminds me of this will help? Do you think so?

I can imagine myself starting to bicker into a fight with my BF and sometimes I feel a resistance in my head before I say something kind of like "no no no don't say that" but then I do and my sub-conscious is like "Ohhhhh you dumbass you said it" .. and then once I do say it I'm feeling kind of stupid. And I realize that had I just reminded myself "look I really really love him" I probably wouldn't have bickered. My tattoo would remind me to do this when I feel a fight coming on.

So anyways -- what do you guys think? I still don't know what this symbol / tattoo would look like. I need to find ideas. I really want it to be my own idea, I'm just not sure what it would be yet. Or if there are any symbols out there that mean this. What type of thing would mean what I described above, to you?

[Graeme]

Welcome and I'm sorry that you've gone through some difficult things lately, though it sounds like you're well on your way to figuring out how to prevent things like that from happening in the future. With that said, I would caution against getting a tattoo for the reasons you expressed in your post. I understand the idea of wanting to have a permanent reminder on you, but tattoos don't really work like that. I think you should get a tattoo because you want a tattoo, because you like tattoos and the art of them, not because you think that tattoos will make you a better person.

[DJDeepFried]

Try meditation.

[jen7]

A musical symbol that indicates a hold or pause is a fermata, which is a cool symbol. A friend of mine got one to commemorate a time in his life where he was extremely ill and unable to conduct his life for a time.

[9Years]

@Graeme is right: a tattoo as a permanent reminder only works if you remember to reference that part of your body before you do the thing you are habituated to do before you do it (which you won't). Or if you have a great movie edited in reverse chronological order where the protagonist can't remember anything for more than a few seconds. What are the odds of that?

I tried to link to a badass David Parker tattoo robot ray-gunning some poor sucker as my suggestion for a tattoo, but I suck with the technologies (it's awesome though). That's what I think you should get.

- - - Updated - - -

Aha, here it is: (my wife gave me a leg-up on the tech)

by David Parker who is at Blackheart Tattoo in SF.

[Blaue]

Hi! I just joined the site myself and am also tattooless at the moment. As I read your post, it could have been me writing it ... until you got to the punched in the face part ... that didn't happen to me. I know exactly how you feel about wanting the tattoo to mean something significant. I recently figured out what I want and have even made my appointment. A suggestion for your tattoo ... something that will represent you breaking your behavior that you don't like. A broken chain or a bird flying from a cage or a butterfly representing a metamorphosis from the bad behavior. (sorry for the girly suggestions, but I am a girl.) I do think if I wanted it to be a reminder to stop myself from doing it (as opposed to a reminder that I've already changed my behavior), it would have to be on my hands so I could see it all the time. Good luck and welcome!

[xcom]

I am really sorry for your recent drama that you brought upon your self... I don't think that anything can help you when you are drunk... Probably when is too late and you get punched and remember that you had something to remind you of this exact event.

Good luck.

[Synesthesia]

I think tattoos should be positive. Reminders of positive events, positive emotions, etc...it sounds like yours would be a reminder of bad times. Or they don't necessarily have to mean anything, sometimes just getting a tattoo makes a happy memory (meeting new people, going new places, etc). Just get something that makes you happy and makes you feel good about yourself.

[AverageJer]

I agree with many of the comments so far. Get a cool tattoo that you like and then feel free to assign whatever meaning you want to it- or not. Whatever.

However, if you still want to find one symbol that can signify all of the ideals you have outlined it seems to me that your only real option is a dragon.

Good luck and no matter what you did you didn't deserve to be punched in the face (unless perhaps you were assaultive or actively kidnapping someone's child).