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Tattoos as ‘reminders’.

merlinthegrey:

I have to roll my eyes when people say “I got this tattoo of an [animal/quote/lyric/something incredibly ambiguous] to remind me that [incredibly ambiguous statement about ones personal worth or direction in life].”

I genuinely recently read the phrase “I got this flying swallow on my back to remind me that I am free to be the person I want to be.” What they presumably meant was “I like the idea and image of a flying swallow symbolising freedom”, given that you generally can’t see a tattoo on your back and you’d have to be pretty bloody forgetful to need ink under your skin to literally remind you of something so incredibly general.

Of course you didn’t get it to remind you of these things, you got it because you like the sentiment, or sometimes even just the look of the image. And that’s okay. Making a huge song and dance about your strifes and woes being essentially solved by the addition of a pretentious little piece of body illustration; not so much. 

Your tattoo representing something is a different matter. Just for fuck’s sake stop referring to it as a reminder as if it’s a bloody post-it note.

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