How to get a tatto
How I did it: First, I thought about it for a very long time. I wanted something that was truely reflective of who I had become and who I wanted to be for the rest of my life. Getting a tattoo is a life-long committment (unless you want to spend tons to later have it removed!), so chose carefully and thoughtfully.
I had just gone through a really tough time emotionally. I was the ultimate drama-queen. Every thing in my life was a crisis. I was wearing myself and my friends down with all my drama! Through a couple of really great friends, I read The Toa of Pooh and several Zen Thoughts for the Day books. I began to realise that not everything was a crisis. That most things in my life that were stressing me out would matter at all in five years. And I began to relax and enjoy life. Even more importantly than that, I began to like the new me.
About the same time, I saw Maya Angelou in Oprah, reading her poem Phenomenal Woman. That work spoke to my soul in an extremely powerful and personnal way. My tattoo is phenomenal in Chinese charaters, to remind me, when things are trying to become stressful or crisis-filled, that I am phenomenal!
Lessons & tips: Take your time deciding what you want. Look around at local studios to see some of their custom work. Talk to others who have tattoos to find out if they are happy with the results.
Resources: Visiting local studios helped the most. I got to talk to artists and get a feel for who made me feel the most at ease.
