At the age of six I discovered Fix You by Coldplay, a song that would ultimately be one of the biggest constants in my life. At the age of sixteen I had my heart set on getting a tattoo dedicated to the song and band that had been there for me through the past decade. Around this time my favourite wordsmith Dottie James put into the world the phrase ‘I will be my own light’. Being your own light ultimately means to me that I have the strength to get through whatever life throws at me, my light will guide me home. At the age of eighteen Dottie wrote out my tattoo for me, there is nobody who's handwriting I could think to be more fitting to get onto my skin. Today, I got a constant reminder of the strength I hold in my heart tattooed.
Here is a post to explain my experience of getting my first tattoo.
I had known the artist that I wanted to do my tattoo for a few months, I had made Pinterest boards and followed numerous artists on Instagram. I did my research on who I wanted to tattoo me and chose the wonderful danibelleink at 14 Arrows in Tunbridge Wells, which is a town close to my home. I put through a booking form on the artists website, we corresponded via email and eventually set a date and time which I confirmed by paying a £20 deposit. This was well over a month ago, I have had a month to build up my anticipation and nerves.
So, on the day my best friend picked me up and took me to the parlour. I had a bit of a wait but I didn’t mind, I happily sat and scrolled through Instagram looking at tattoos and my friends posts. Then, when my time came I had to fill out a permission form and show my ID (pretty basic stuff).
After this Dani, my tattoo artist, came over to me with a print out of the script of my tattoo and we worked out what needed changing. If I had any issues with placement and sizing then she encouraged me to speak up, after all this is something that is going to be on my skin forever. I had to be sure I had fully happy with it.
Then came the time for the tattoo, I don't know whether I was more nervous or excited but there were definitely a lot of butterflies. I had been freaking out a few hours before and messaged a good friend of mine who has tattoos asking for advice, she told me that it would feel like a hot scratch and thats the perfect way for it to be explained.
There were a few moments where it hurt a bit more than it had done in other places but all in all it was so much less painful than I had thought it would be (and I have the biggest fear of needles in the world). In the moments that it hurt I kind of pinched my leg with my spare hand as if to distract myself with another pain which worked really well and helped me to forget what was going on.
Because of how dainty my tattoo was it took no longer than 15 minutes, and because of my deposit I only had to pay £10 on the day.
I absolutely love my tattoo, I love the meaning behind it and the way it looks. I couldn't be happier. Here’s to my next one.
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