What will my next tattoo be? You mean I have to choose?! | LOH | #66
I think I've always loved tattoos. I can't remember when it all started but by 15 years of age I was hell bent on getting my first tattoo. I knew what I wanted and--except for the exact design and the location on my body--the actual object remained the same until the day I got inked.
Because I was a good little girl back then I dreamed of the idea but didn't dare to get my body permanently marked until I was a fully fledged adult.
I was a good girl but that changed as I got older ;)
I attempted to get this tattoo--the one I'd been dreaming of for so long--as soon as I finished university. But the tattoo parlour was booked out during the free spot I had before jumping on a train to leave town.
I attempted again in another part of the country a year or so later, but they didn't approve of the place I wanted it on my body. (For the record, I was imagining it on my foot but they said the ink doesn't hold very well on the foot and they wanted their artwork to look good for many years. That, and it would be very painful and it would need re-doing every few years 😏).
After that I spent some time reconsidering where I might want this artwork to live out its days.
Fast forward another year and I was in yet another location, having yet another conversation and suddenly it was obvious; this tattoo had to go on my lower back.
It felt right. I had my drawing. I was ready to go.
And it was less than 6 months later, when I had a long time to wait between a bus arriving and a ferry departing that I got my chance. And just to be sure I was clear on my design I looked through the drawings they had in their decked out tattoo parlour. One jumped out at me that I liked even better than the one I had be carrying around in my wallet for years.
Less than 30 minutes later I had my very first tattoo; two geckos chasing each other in a circle.
Here is one of the many geckos I've seen that inspired my tattoo
As a young adult I always thought I'd get my one tattoo and content with that. But no sooner had it healed that I wanted the next one!
However, unlike with the first one, I endlessly day dream about what my next tattoo will be.
And it changes constantly.
I'm forever falling in love with some epic quote.
I'll find that I love it so much I imagine it being inked on my skin using some lovely healthy, vegan ink (unlike the first one!). I think about where it will look best, and ask myself how often do I want to see it (occasionally in the mirror or multiple times every day?). I consider the font and how big or small I would want it to be.
And then I drop it.
And then a few weeks or months later I fall in love with another epic short quote, or word, or idea and the cycle begins again! 😂
In the last 20 years or so I have been fascinated by other people's tattoos. I have stared. I have asked questions. I have loved on some of the gorgeous, simple, elegant and, at times, bold designs I've seen. And my heart has often soared as I saw the way people use their body like a piece of art.
But I still haven't settled on a second tattoo...
I keep considering the merits of henna; this plant-based, temporary ink that only lasts a handful of days that is commonly used other parts of the world. I keep thinking it would be way more sensible to get inked with this stuff with any of the innumerable ideas I have 😄
But after doing this once a few years ago I realised that for the amount of time it takes to find someone, get inked in henna and let it dry, it really doesn't last that long. It's a little underwhelming, for my purposes at least.
So my curious enquiry continues.
I dream. I ponder. I imagine.
Yet to this day nothing, not even my favourite phrases, have spoken to my soul the way the geckos from my childhood did.
So I remaine, for now, as I am: with no more and no less than my one beautiful tattoo.
This was my entry into this week's
Ladies of Hive Community Contest #66.
I answered this question:
If you had to get a tattoo right now, what tattoo would you choose?
If you're a lady and you'd like to enter this particular contest, there are about 36 hours left, at time of writing, to do so.
Check out all the details here.
Thanks for the invite to participate @blackdaisyft 😉
Does this topic interest you @liftslikealady? I'd be curious your answer to this question!
Thanks for the question(s) and all your work in LOH @silversaver888!
And thanks for the fun conversation that gave me the spark to do this @elementm.
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And I am imagining that your gecko tattoo looks great where they are :) I guess they spoke with you so deeply :)
They did 😊
Lovely entry! Sounds like your first tattoo was, and still is, very special to you.
I have mixed feelings about tattoos, it's an amazing form of art but I struggle with the idea of marking my skin permanently. I don't even have my ears pierced.
I do have three tattoo ideas I'd love to get, I've spent years working on the concept, but haven't completely made up my mind just yet. My mom suggested one time that I paint them and hang them around the house instead of putting them on my skin! Hahaha. I might write a post about this, now that we're at it.
Thank you for sharing! Sending much love your way. See you around.
Thanks for your kind words, lovely 😊
That's a great idea, mom! 😉 I reckon it really helped me to carry around a gecko drawing in my wallet for years as a teen and young adult. Someone had made the suggestion by saying:
"Draw what you think you want inked on your skin and carry it around in your wallet for a year. If you're not sick of looking at it after that year then get it tattooed on your skin!"
It was a sensible thing for me to hear at that point in my life.
If you ever decide to share the tattoo ideas/pictures here on Hive please tag me; I'd love to see them 😃
And I adore the painting idea kind of for the same reason, but I think more than that. The painting on the wall also gives you a chance to appreciate the art... and then take it down if you've changed so much it no longer 'fits'.
I feel the tattoos are beautiful but for me, I don't have the courage to get them because I feel too much pain
It was definitely painful! Mine was right across my spine and there's so little fat on my lower back so it wasn't pleasant. Thankfully it was fast! You could always play with henna (if it's available where you are); it doesn't hurt at all! 😃
Geckos a nice tattoo!
🙏
Geckos are so cute! I love monkeys. Funny how we are drawn to certain things.
I wonder if you have ever considered getting a custom temporary tattoo made. They have some that will stay on for two weeks now. They are working on temporary ink as well.
Ooooh, what kind of monkeys? Any in particular?
Tell me more. What is this, Becca? A different type of ink?
I need to do some research for you. I see advertisements a lot, but now will have to seek them out instead of ignoring them.
Monkeys- think Abu in Aladdin. Capuchin monkeys and spider monkeys are my favorites. I love the little, cute ones.
That is from unsplash. Images like that stop me in my tracks sometimes with the cuteness.
Ink: Thanks! That would be awesome 😍🙏
Monkeys: Abu from Aladdin... OMG, I love Abu, but how can you not? He's so endearing!! That is definitely a cute monkey 🐵😍
I enjoyed our conversation too and I'm glad it helped give you that spark ✨😊
🙏😍❣️
This was simply wonderful to read Caroline. Every delicious word❣️ I could feel how much the gecko tattoo meant to you and the attention to detail that you gave every other potential tattoo thereafter. Quite simply a joy to read. And I used to love watching the geckos run around after each other too hehe...what I didn't like was when they would run across my bedroom ceiling at night and occasionally miss their footing and land on my bed, once (that I know of anyway) one landed on my pillow next to my face....aargh!
Awwwhhh, thank you for your kind words, Sam (and the reblog!); I gratefully receive them ❣️
I got to watch a lot of geckos running around when I was living on Bali (in Indonesia). There are certainly some here in Brisbane over summer but there are oodles, everywhere, constantly on Bali!
I hear you! I had that happen for the first time here last summer, I think. It's actually surprising it never happened on Bali because the houses and rooms were so open that geckos were inside my sleeping space all the freakin' time. Along with their poo 💩 🤣 Thankfully tiny animals only make tiny amounts of poo!
yeah thankfully !LOLZ ...and with that I am off to bed with no geckos or tiny poo to worry about hehe ...tucking in warm with this cold English winter
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Bhahaha. 🦎🦎🦎💩💩💩😰😰😰🌞🌞🌞 !LOL
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Two geckos chasing each other in a circle.
It seems to me that more than enough... for now... hehehe🤣
Thanks for sharing, @cosciouscat.
Good luck with the contest!
!LOL I love them 😉
Thanks @silversaver888 🙏
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I'm so glad you entered the contest! And what a lovely post 😊 I now know a little bit more about you 😍 When the time comes to make a second one you'll know as it will ressonate with your soul like the geckos one 😊
I must confess I have a little fobia about geckos .... 😨😭 They always gave the chills and I can't be in the same room as one. I'm not even able to whatch your photos very long 🙈 it's so stupid! I know they won't do you a thing... I really don't why I have this fear... But I scream everytime one passes by me on the sidewalk in the summer to run away 😭
It's definitely not stupid @blackdaisyft. When we have an irrational fear (phobia) it's because we've had an experience at some point in the past and our body remembers that this thing is a problem that must be avoided.
It might feel "stupid" because rationally you know that a gecko can't hurt you but your unconscious or subconscious mind does not know that. It thinks:
Gecko = problem
Problem = turn on sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight/freeze)
You experience "the chills" and "can't be in the same room as one".
The good news? You can change your body's reaction the geckos!
If you ever want to do this, let me know. It might not be that important to you as maybe you don't have a lot of geckos showing up in your life. But if you ever want to know how to do this (and you didn't know it was possible to change this) now you do!
Uhh you got me interested! I've seen some shows on the TV that people can do therapy to overcome this irrational fear. I really don't know why I have it, I grew up in the country side and all kinds of animals. I'm not afraid of spider nor any other typical "phobia" animals 😆 I don't remember any bad experience either with geckos during my childhood 🤔
Maybe some day, but in the meanwhile I'll try to look best to your gecko photos as they are so coulorful to see! 😍
🙏😄🦎😘😍