Moreismore

I'll be honest, it probably did take a few months to get fully used to it, but the really, really awful feeling only lasted a week or two.

I got my first tattoo when I was 34. I had wanted to get a tattoo forever, but I felt really, really awful after I got it. I barely ate and I put on long sleeves (in the summer) so that I wouldn't see it. But I got used to it and it's just a part of me now. And I got four more after that and am planning another in December. I think it's just a big mental shift that you need to process, but you will and the tattoo will start to feel more and more like it belongs there.

Yeah, I seriously think they're stuck in a movie from the 1950s. It's like Pleasantville. 😂 No clue where all these sailors and gangsters are hiding!

My parent hate my tattoos. They're both 70, and they still think that only sailors or gang members have tattoos. They have literally said that to me. I have one of a skeleton, and that did not go over well at all. 🤷‍♀️ We've had a couple of fights about them, but we know there's no turning back at this point. I actually had a talk with my mom recently and told her that her "funny jokes" (also known as her thinly veiled dislike) about my tattoos were hurtful and not nice. Too soon to say if anything will actually change based on that, but the point is, none of us want my tattoos to ruin our relationship so we don't let them. Yes, they have caused issues at times, but we do still have a generally good relationship.

You're totally right; of course a tattoo will look upside down at some point. It definitely wasn't a rational reaction. I think it was partly just that I got the tattoo a bit on a whim, so I hadn't mentally prepared myself, but to your point, I do think I was worried about how other people would react as well. The good news is that I feel much better about the tattoo now. I'm not in love with it, but it also doesn't bother me anymore, so I'm considering that a win.

So here's my update on day 5. I don't 100% love the tattoo, but I'm 80% ok with it, so that's progress. I've been following my patented process of covering up the tattoo so that I can't see it mixed with forcing myself to look at it so that I get used to it, which somehow helps. I also read about half of this forum and looked at a lot of pictures of laser removal and coverups, which helped me understand that I have lots of options if I never end up fully ok with the tattoo and want to do something about it. It seems like the general consensus is to wait a number of months before doing anything else to a new tattoo, so I'm going to wait until the end of the year before I make any decisions. And hopefully this will be a nonissue by then anyway!

Thanks, I think I'll get there. I already feel better about it today than I did yesterday. I'm used to being the black sheep of the (somewhat traditional, Jewish) family, but tattoos are a much more visible representation of that status than my lack of spouse or children. 😂 I think I just need a minute to mentally adjust.

Hi everyone, I just got my fifth tattoo yesterday kind of spur of the moment, and now I'm having some regrets. That has happened to me with some of my other planned tattoos, so I'm hoping I'll get used to it at some point like I did with those. This image shows my two most recent tattoos. (Sorry for my horrible photography skills.) They're both based on the book the Phantom Tollbooth, which I loved as a kid. I originally didn't get the part with the car when I got the telescope a month or so ago. I went back for a touch up yesterday and decided to get it while I was there. It's obviously also upside down when I hold my arm this way, which I'm not thrilled about, but I'm trying to convince myself to like it. A lot of people in my life don't like tattoos, and none of my friends or family have any, so I think I'm also concerned about the comments I'm going to get. Which is dumb; I'm basically almost 40. But I was hoping that getting to know some of you might make me feel less like of a pariah, which I sort of feel like currently. Thanks in advance for replying!