WARNING: This post includes information about tattoos. Infections, allergic reactions, and contaminated ink may cause some serious harm to your body.

Don’t try this at home, or do, because look at the state of the world (unless you’re still trying to live in a bubble and refuse to acknowledge anything going on).

With that said, do what you want boundlessly, as long as it doesn’t hurt yourself or others. Joy as an act of resistance, so to speak.

At least that was my mindset when my friend told me she ordered a $30 tattoo gun.

With school lingering, mortality on the mind, and an overarching dissociative state, I picked up the tattoo gun and successfully gave 5 tattoos (two of which were on myself) and received 2 in the span of about a week.

We decided “what’s the worst that can happen?” and dove right in. When it comes to new skills, we like to learn how to swim in the deep end.

It was easier than I thought. Impulsivity and intuition can lead to pretty decent results.

Naturally I recycled designs from my stained glass projects when I tattooed myself. The skull, because of existential turmoil. The heart, because it is a recurring motif in my life. It was a little tricky executing these upside-down, but after a quick youtube tutorial I drew my own temporary tattoo which I was able to transfer to my leg and trace effortlessly (minus the ink spill when I was working on the heart).

The most important tattoos we gave and received were matching tattoos on the three year anniversary of our first matching tattoos together. My friend said “twin flames, your fire lights my fire” and I had her draw up some ideas and the deed was done.

It was actually very grounding to do something so permanent and physical. I hope to do more soon.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Marywood University.