New Ink

I have finally gotten my fourth tattoo that I've wanted for about 6 months now! The design has gone back and forth over that time period but the intentions were the same: new ink! As I'm sure you've heard and/or said, tatts are addicting. I love the idea of coming up with something all my own and having it on my body forever. I'm a firm believer of having each tattoo mean something unique to the tattee (cool word, I know) and I love when people ask me about my tattoos so I can tell them the meaning of each. I've always said that I would most definitely get a sleeve if it was practical for my lifestyle. Sadly, it is not, so I'll have to settle for smaller tattoos all over in more discreet locations. Plus, let's be real. I could never pull off a badass sleeve.

This most recent one is a quote from "Oh, The Places You'll Go." I hinted about it in a past post because I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted from the Dr. Seuss book tattooed on me but I knew I wanted something related to the message of the book. I didn't quote the book exactly, but I tailored it to the message I want to remember. It reminds me a lot of where I am in my life, both personally and professionally, and I know I'll always look back at this tattoo and appreciate it for what it is.

I don't care what anyone says, your 20's are a difficult time. You are just starting your post-school life, creating a career, and it's the first time everyone in your life, particularly your friends, are all in different stages of their lives. Up until this point, most of my friends, both from high school and college, were all on similar tracks. In high school, we were all experiencing more or less the same things, and we all knew after high school we would be going to college. In college, it was the same thing: we were all working towards a similar goal. Now that we've all been out of college for three-four years, everyone is all over the place. I am single, living alone in my home town, working at a company that I've been with since I graduated, and really figuring things out on my own. Some might say this is the best time of my life because I really don't have anything keeping me in one certain spot and I have a lot of options available to me. However, in my opinion, all those options are intimidating, overwhelming, and overrated. With so many options, how am I supposed to know which option is the best one or if one of those options is a huge mistake? It's not like there's a book out there I can open up to a specific page and read, "when you're 26, you do this." Believe me, I've googled it. I also have friends that are married or getting married, working on creating this life with their partners, and have many decisions and choices they must make as a team. Some of the choices or issues the marrieds have (as I affectionately call them) I can't relate to because I have no idea what it's like merging lives with someone else, especially if that someone else is of the opposite sex. So, where we used to have things we could talk out together, it gets a little harder since we all have problems the others have trouble relating to.

So, that's why this tattoo has so much significance to me as I get ready to enter my mid-to-late 20's (let's not get carried away and say late 20's yet.) It reminds me that no matter what choices I make, I have enough brains and experience to make the ones that are best for me at the time. And that's all we really can do in life, isn't it?

Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best; whatever you do, you will top all the rest

When I told my lovely friend Jessica about what I was getting, she said, "well that's a little cocky, isn't it?" Good ole Jess, always keeping me grounded ;)