Tattoo Ideas

I turn 18 in ten days and have been considering getting a tattoo done, but I've been stuck on what to get and where for ages. I want something small and cute but still meaningful. Here are some of my favourites from a Pinterest board I made a while ago.

Daisy symbolism;

INNOCENCE - linked to plucking the petals of a daisy and reciting, "he loves me, he loves me not."

"Fresh as a daisy."

A well known saying that reinforces the connotations of purity, as well as cleanliness and youth.

LOVE - the daisy is also a symbol associated with Norse love goddess, Freya, who has been connected to the fairy and spirit worlds in modern mythology due to her ability to travel to the nine cosmic Nordic worlds.

TRANSFORMATION - in the Roman myth of Vertumnus (god of seasons, nature and agriculture) and Belides (a dainty nymph), Vertumnus falls in love with Belides and proceeds to stalk her. Rather than offending Vetrumnus and denying her love for him, Belides transforms into a field of daisies to escape his obsession with her.

I find all this symbolic stuff really interesting, however there's also a vanity side to it - daisies are pretty and I would much like to have one decorate my body. Simple.

Serotonin

Little biology lesson here! I'm not the biggest fan of science but it does interest me, and this stuff is cool.

Serotonin is the neurotransmitter responsible for our feelings of happiness. Too little serotonin = sadness, so topping up our levels of serotonin makes us happy. It is found in caffeine, hence why a cup of coffee boosts our mood for a short period, and some anti-depressants. SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are a form of anti-depressant that increases our levels of serotonin by blocking its passage back into the brain so that it remains in the synapse longer, where we can feel its effects.

This tattoo would have significant meaning to me as I suffered from depression for about two years, and recently recovered (in my opinion) due to the anti-depressants I was taking as well as support from friends and family.

This one is just lovely. Flower tattoos might be generic, but they're generic because people want to make themselves look attractive - and what's more attractive than a pretty flower?

Heart

When I was 12 (oh my gosh), a group of friends and I bought some Indian ink and sterilised some sewing needles. For reasons I still cannot work out today, we all decided to give ourselves stick and poke tattoos. I decided mine would be the ever so original love heart, where nobody would see. Halfway through poking a misshapen heart onto my knicker line, one of my friends spilled the whole jar of Indian ink, and we never dared go back to the shop to buy some more. So now I still have a wobbly half heart that looks more like a potato, and I need it fixing. P.S. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! My friend was so scared about hers that she had to bleach it off. Cue crying and lots of 12-year-old drama.

Scoliosis

Another daisy idea...

I think a small daisy chain would look really cute going up my back. I have a long scar running along my spine due to spinal fusion for scoliosis that I had about three years ago. While I'm not self-conscious about my scar whatsoever, I think it would be nice to decorate it in some way that relates to scoliosis.

Daisy chains are not straight, and nor is my spine. I think a daisy chain would make my scar look more appeasing while not looking perfect itself, showing that pretty things don't have to be faultless.

You can probably tell from this post that I'm not a fan of colour tattoos. This may change, but for now I like the simplicity of a black (or white) tattoo and the way it won't interfere with the harmony of what I decide to wear, as wearing clashing colours makes me feel mismatched and off balance. This is why I struggle to dress myself every morning!