Tattoo!

Hello all! I hope your holidays were happy and joyous. I know it's a New Year and everyone has resolutions, but I find them to be far too difficult to keep so I don't make any. If I have to make one it would be probably something like to get more tattoos. Seriously, I have some space left on one arm and almost a whole arm to get done. I love getting tattoos, the art, even the needle pain seem to produce a meditative state for me.


I'm not the only one who finds it peaceful! Many people with mental disorders, especially bipolar, say that the whole experience gives them a comfort and type of peace. I think some of it may be because you must sit or lie (depending on the body area being tattooed) completely still. This forces me to not move and in order to do that I must calm my mind. My breathing has to slow down and without being really conscious of it, my mind begins to shut off some of the thoughts.


That's all nice you might think, but what about the pain? I actually like that to an extent. Now there are areas that just flat out hurt, no way around it! But at least at first, I find the needle to be quite soothing. Weird I know, especially since I'm terrified of needles; like I can't even hold them without feeling queasy. But again once the guy starts with the needle, I can't move, I just need to suck it in and embrace the whole experience.


For some people they've stated that the needle part helps them feel less self-harming, I can kind of see where they are coming from. Having someone go over and over your skin with a needle hurts after a while and your brain will begin to focus on that pain. However instead of doing it to yourself and possibly severely harming yourself, someone else is doing it and creating something beautiful. A kind of "beauty from pain" concept. One way to explain it is, for me, I don't tend to hurt myself like cutting or burning but when I get really overwhelmed, frustrated, or my head races too much, I like to hit my head with my fist. Nothing crazy, and I don't do it that much anymore because I feel more stable. But I don't do it to really cause pain as much as to jar my brain. For some reason the jarring motion feels comforting to me; another more helpful I found to do this is jump rope. The jumping does the jarring with no head trauma!


Finally the combination of being motionless, the tattooing and the buzzing of the needle motor, has this almost hypnotic affect on me. It's like I'm awake but my brain is napping. Many times I feel like I've taken a nap after getting done. I've seen some people actually go to sleep while getting tattooed. I'm not that good! Also in a totally non-cathartic way, getting tattoos is said to possibly help the body fight off sicknesses, like colds or flus. By the needle piercing the skin rapidly apparently that opens the body's' immune system up for small periods of time and helps it create immunity to various sicknesses.


So all that to say, don't worry about making a New Year's resolution, just be you! But if you just have to have a resolution, maybe get a tattoo! They are fun, can be totally unique, and any reputable shop is going to be incredibly sterile so don't you worry about getting needle disease! Seriously, though I really do need to get another tattoo.