I got a tattoo the other week. One that I'm still incredibly unsure about it. I love the meaning behind it, the placement, it was something I had in mind for a while. I thought about how it would run along my skin, extenuating the lines of my body, delicately. But it was after when I started to think otherwise. The others I had gotten always seemed to just ''flow'' like it was something that was just born out of me, in a sense. It was like a relief when I got them. But this one hurt. The heaviness of the lines sank deep, too deep. Not how I wanted it too. The black ink seemed to just scream in contrast against my winter skin. It still seems so foreign to me and hurts like nothing else. It rocked my world the first few days. Like a bad dream that I just hoped to wake up from. I guess if any good has come out of it, it's made me look further into myself and my intentions. What does this represent to me? Why do we go so far as to put something on our body, permanently. Who are we defining ourselves as? Are we trying to fit into a certain ideal? What are we trying to convey? If we were all stripped of our tattoos, piercings, makeup, hair color, down to our most natural state. Would we still draw the same people into our lives? Feel the same confidence about ourselves? I feel like self liberation comes even before the act of going through with that new hair cut, like if you absolutely couldn't have it, how would you continue to carry yourself? I think we're driven by the subtleties of body language, and how we hold ourselves. Do we walk with sheer confidence? Do we speak with a soft understated tone? Do we blush at the passerby who has the same little spark of uncertainty in their eye? I think all of these things beautifully join us on a subconscious level, with or without blatantly stating it.