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Hello, Psychology of Your 20s listeners.
If you're like me, you love feeling confident and empowered in your own skin, or maybe I should say your own hair.
Madison Reed is the hair color company that's changing the game.
Madison Reed believes that your hair color should reflect the real you, bold, beautiful, and unapologetically authentic.
Whether you're touching up your roots, going for a really bold new look, or enhancing your natural shade madison reed has got you covered with their salon quality easy to use products they offer a range of options to fit your needs from vibrant permanent hair color to customizable demi -permanent shades
that add shine and dimension plus they've got everything from root touch -up kits to gloss treatments and more and here's the best part their formulas are made with ingredients you can feel good about free of harsh chemicals like ammonia and parabens which i personally love plus madison reed stands behind
their products with a money back guarantee so you can try it out with complete confidence so i've got to ask what are we waiting for take the guesswork out of hair color and find the perfect shade today visit madison -reed .com psych20 that's madison -reed .com psych20 hey y 'all i'm maria fernanda dies when When
You're Invisible is my love letter to the working -class people and immigrants who shaped me.
Season two shares stories about community and being underestimated.
All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it.
We get paid to serve you, but we're made out of the same things.
It's rare to have black male teachers.
Sometimes I am the testament.
Listen to When You're Invisible on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Emi Olea host of the podcast Crumbs For years I had to rely on other people to tell me my story and what I heard wasn't good You really last night It felt like I lived most of my life in a blackout I was trapped in addiction I had to grab the lamp and smash it against the walls And then I decided
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Welcome to My Legacy.
I'm Martin Luther King III, and together with my wife Andrea Waters King and our dear friends Mark and Craig Kilberger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives.
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Listen to My Legacy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is My Legacy. Before we get started, this episode of the podcast does contain references and discussions of child abuse.
If this is a sensitive topic for you, please reflect on whether you are ready to listen to this episode.
If you don't feel ready, it will still be here in a week, a month, a year, whenever it's a better time to listen.
Take care of yourselves and I'm sending you love and healing.
Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show.
Welcome back to the podcast.
New listeners, old listeners, wherever you are in the world.
It is so lovely, so great to have you here back for another episode as we of course break down the psychology of our 20s.
This week when I sat down at my desk and I was deciding what to talk about this week what did I want to discuss I made the decision to do something a little bit fun a little bit different I wanted to do an episode that you might not think has anything to do with psychology you know I feel like we've done
quite a few serious emotional very in -depth somewhat scientific episodes as of late and I wanted to kind of do something a bit more fun one topic that kept floating to the surface for me was tattoos.
Why do we get them?
Not just in our 20s, but at any stage.
How important are they to our identity?
Which tattoos do we end up regretting?
Which ones do we not end up regretting?
Basically, I want to talk about the psychology of tattoos and that, my friends, is what we are going to do today.
I have been endlessly fascinated by this topic for some time as someone with tattoos I have never actually considered why I got them why was I called to literally get something permanently put on my body after when I had just turned 18 why did I decide on specific designs why did I decide on what to
get what was the motivation and in thinking about my own intentions with my tattoos I uncovered so much research that I did not even know was out there.
I also talked to some of my friends.
I am so lucky to have some incredible friends in my life who are tattoo artists and who make a living off of permanent art on somebody else's body.
Like there is no other type of art like it and I spoke to them and I was like can you tell me what you hear from people who are getting tattoos are you seeing a specific kind of person get a specific kind of tattoo do people ever come back and say they regret it like tell me about the emotional experience
you have with a client when you are putting something on their body and it has just been so fascinating talking to people about what kind of feels like quite an innocuous subject I also found this interesting piece of research saying that the majority of people who have tattoos got their first one in their
20s now you may hear that and think that Gemma that makes sense right depending on where you live most people can't get tattoos before they turn 18 and even then you probably don't have the money to get the tattoos that you want until you're in your 20s so it feels like the time a lot of people are doing
it but it also comes down to the fact that this decade is when we are in peak identity formation season we've had our teen years to really explore but it's our 20s where we are really trying to find the shoe or the outfit or the persona that fits we are trying to find our space we are really starting
to feel grounded in who we are we're kind of exploring different facets of our identity and sometimes that calls for expression it calls for something permanent to represent who we are and what we're going through that is where tattoos come in and I think of tattoos kind of as like a testimony to the age
you are when you get them and maybe in 10 20 years time you'll look at it and think what was I thinking like what does this even mean but maybe it's also you know an important rite of passage to some people it brings a sense of certainty all right i don't want to spoil the entire episode before we even
get into it but really what we are going to do today is just take a big bite into all the fascinating research to do with body modification tattooing even things like regret as well as do a brief kind of dive into some of the history as well because this topic has so many dimensions to it.
Without further ado, my lovely listeners, let us get into the psychology of tattoos.
Let's talk briefly about the history of tattoos because I feel like the change in attitudes that we've experienced just in the last 50 years is really quite striking and worth investigating.
Now, I always get in trouble when I talk about history on this podcast because there are some very smart people out there who know a lot more about very specific topics than me and very graciously correct me when I'm wrong but I really did a deep dive into this one I used what I think is like the mother
of all guides the Smithsonian's worldwide history of tattoos to really go in deep so I hope that you are all prepared for a bit of a factual start to this episode.
Some people will incorrectly assume or tell you that tattoos first emerged in the 1800s.
That cannot be further from the truth.
Humans have been marking their skin in ritualistic and important ways for literally thousands of years around the world, across different cultures, tattoos are really, really significant.
I think about, you know, the Greeks, they used to use tattoos to declare love.
Indigenous Polynesians used to use tattoos to tell personal stories.
We see them in ancient Serbian nomads in native south americans tattoos have this real core place in the human story how we express ourselves how we signify status religious beliefs even as just purely a form of of decoration so i think what people generally used to believe is that it was the egyptians
who were like these so -called inventors of inking skin and they used to use different kinds of pigments or ground up insects and they would insert the you know wet pigment into the skin using a piece of bronze or like a sharp stick there's also evidence of a very famous mummy it's called otzi the ice
man if you're a history buff you'll know this mummy quite well that individual is almost 6 000 years old and when they found this mummified person he had tattoos six thousand years ago people were already adorning their skin now that is really the beginning of tattoos as we know it let's now go forward
about you know five thousand seven hundred years three hundred years ago during this time specifically in western cultures um something changed when it came to our attitudes towards tattoos they used to be very culturally maybe religiously significant and then they started being considered a sign of being
a criminal or a deviant they're associated with gangs with behaviors that society doesn't approve of and as such they're banned in some in some spaces actually i remember visiting japan last year and not being able to enter the onsens or the hot baths because I had tattoos so it's still relevant in some
cultures but we can link a lot of this stigma back to a specific group of Christian missionaries who did a really great job at convincing people back then that tattoos would disfigure the sacred vessel given to us by God and consequently they were banned they were banned in christianity and as christianity
became more widespread that same belief was impressed upon different cultures some of whom did have a historical I don't know a historical attachment to tattooing of course we know that did not stop people from doing it.
But it did bring about a stigma that if you got tattoos, you were obviously not a God fearing individual.
And therefore you were probably up to no good.
This is how they really became associated with being, you know, a bit of a rebel and they became associated with criminality and counterculture.
But around like the 1940s, specifically in America, there was a revival of tattooing in western cultures and slowly more and more people knew someone with a tattoo they knew a relative they knew someone in the army then you know they kind of thought about getting one of their own they have kids with tattoos
so nowadays there's some estimates that between 30 to 48 percent of people in the country surveyed so countries like Canada America Germany in Australia those were the countries included in these studies 30 to 48 percent of people in those countries have tattoos now if you're in your 20s the likelihood
that you have a tattoo is is increased it's around 38 to 52 percent so that's showing that like over time generationally we have become a lot more accepting and we're a lot more normal about this idea I remember before I got my first tattoo I was like still had this like fear of not being able to find
a job specifically like if it was visible but nowadays like the stigma has definitely lessened.
So there's your little history lesson for the day.
I know this is a psychology podcast I will not dwell on it for long but I do think it's important to cover because that attitudinal change does play into the psychology behind why we may be drawn to get a tattoo.
All right, let's talk about that question now.
Why? Why do we feel compelled to put something permanent on our skin?
So when it comes down to it, when you're sitting in that tattoo chair, when you're waiting for the needle to go in, you are probably in that position because of one of four reasons.
The first is that you're looking to represent something of personal emotional significance on your body.
This is a way of telling your personal story and your personal beliefs and maybe reaffirming to yourself what you care about, what's important to you.
Is it family? Is it religion?
Is it a specific value system?
One of the largest studies ever done on the psychology of tattoos was conducted in South Africa with university students between 19 and 35.
Now, some of them had tattoos, some of them were considering it, some of them were just like absolutely not at all.
And the researchers said explain your reasoning and then they thematically grouped the responses.
Now, amongst people who had a tattoo or wanted a tattoo, 25 % of them said the reason I would want to do it is because this thing has a personal meaning.
It marks a significant experience or struggle for me.
So some of the reasons given were I got a tattoo to honor my mother, to honor my siblings, because it represents my life philosophy, because this really presents what I was going through at a certain time in my life and I want to remember it.
This idea is one I actually really want to grab onto for a second.
And it's the idea that tattoos can bring about a sense of permanence.
They can really anchor us to a specific time and our identity and our feelings and what we were going through in that moment.
It's kind of like if I put this on my body, this experience will always be part of me.
I won't forget. I won't forget that loved one.
I won't forget how capable I was and how courageous I was to get through an experience I'll never forget that this is how I see life this is how I choose to live it so if our body is just a vessel for our soul you know why not decorate it in the in the manner of what is important to you I find this reason this reasoning
almost using your body like a journal in some ways quite compelling I have tattoos from specific periods in my life and when I think about them I can exactly remember what I was going through that made me believe that this thing was important to get.
One in particular and I have admitted this to very very few people is a breakup tattoo.
I went through this like breakup when I was 18 and it was really awful and I don't know it was just it was shrouded in a lot of I don't know it was complex I'll just say it was complex and being my first like big heartbreak it taught me a lot and I remember having this resounding sense of like independence
like no matter what you need to be independent you need to be able to rely on yourself you cannot get attached to any one person and so I got this like tattoo that represented that and now I have a more balanced perspective but when I look at that tattoo in the mirror sometimes I can exactly remember
where I was when I got it and I don't just mean physically where I was but emotionally and mentally as well same for like my 22 tattoo you know I turned 22 on the 22nd of the second 2022 that felt very significant to me it felt very aligned it felt like it was something that needed to be held on to
um and you know actually quite frankly like my 22nd year was an amazing year of my life like I quit my job I met my boyfriend I finally felt happy in the city I was in I had all these opportunities but you know I do still sometimes look at it and be like why did you have to get that why why did you
have to get that because you're not 22 anymore but I think we'll talk about regret a little bit later the biggest reason for me in that moment was the emotional significance of where I was and for other people that's really important as well it really comes down to self -identity and our desire to hold
on to the feelings and encounters that have shaped us perhaps even using our body as like a way to communicate who we are and what we've experienced I think about Harry Potter of tattoos as a perfect example of this or any kind of fandom or religious tattoo these are called group identification tattoos
you know you put something on your body so that if someone else saw it they would know maybe implicitly what kind of person you are or if they were someone who was interested in the same things they could be like oh friend you know i know who you are we have this thing in common even though we've never
met it's like this form of communication or recognition belonging it's a form of belonging obviously that can also take a terrible turn if people are using hate symbols as a way to identify a group to which they belong like that's this that's this philosophy taken to a very negative dark extreme but it
is still part of some people's motivations for getting tattoos the final value -based reason for getting a tattoo can be for cultural reasons as we've already explained there are so many cultures with an amazing history of tattooing i think about our new zealand and maori neighbors here in australia who get
i'm gonna try and pronounces right, Tsimoko, which is traditional Maori tattoos that really symbolize cultural pride, history, story.
They can mark like a significant occasion, like a marriage or a graduation.
Side note, I need you to look up how people get these tattoos because when I first saw that process, I genuinely was like, wow, these are the toughest people on the planet.
But yes, that is a really big part of what calls people to have something permanent on their skin.
Let's talk about the second reason we get tattoos, and that is because it's just an appealing form of art.
It's an extension of our identity through decoration.
Now, the first reason was very deep.
It's very identity -based.
This one is less deep.
Tattoos are pretty.
We are just a canvas.
Our body is made to be adorned.
Simple as that. your tattoos don't need a specific meaning in a recent episode actually a guest was telling me about a friend of hers who gets random tattoos whenever she feels like it you know she's I think in her 50s and she'll go into a tattoo parlor on a Saturday and just say go for it decorate
me you know if she sees a cool cartoon a word she loves an image a pattern she just does it I think that is a beautiful way to think about our body and to think about you know its permanence or lack of permanence in this world something I do always struggle with when it comes to this though or I debate
with myself when it comes to should I get a specific tattoo should I get a specific design is do I just think this is cute because it's a trending design is this just the same as a viral sweater or a viral lip balm but it is going to be on my body forever that's something I consider a lot if tattoos
are self -expression why is it that a lot of us end up getting similar tattoos like some examples I can think of um the love heart tattoos everyone was getting on their fingers like back in like 2015 2016 infinity tattoos now it's like um micro tattoos cowboy tattoos which I think are really really cute
that lion tattoo that everyone used to get on their finger none of these are inherently bad tattoos but it's interesting that a lot of us got them at the same time and I think what it reflects is like a shared aesthetic appreciation shared cultural trends community identity of course and you know the internet
is obviously some parts of the internet are a community so we all kind of feel excited by the same things we end up finding beauty in the same things I think just like art in general has different seasons and movements like abstract art the renaissance contemporary art tattoos go through these kind
of seasons as well and it means that a lot of people will jump on the bandwagon now I don't think this is a bad thing quite honestly like I think just because you find something beautiful and someone else also finds that beautiful doesn't mean you are not unique I actually think that when I see someone
with these tattoos I'm like wow you are kind of a tapestry for the culture and age that we're living in you know this is you're a part of history like this is actually quite cool that you have this thing on your body that I know this is quite morbid but say someone was to dig you up in 3 ,000 years like
that mummy we talked about and they found like a tattoo of a heart on your finger they could say oh wow that must have been important at the time that must have been something that was aesthetic to people at the time and I find that very very interesting okay we are going to take a quick break because I'm
fully about to shift gears here but when I return let's talk about the role of tattooing in coping healing from trauma and whether this practice can actually become addictive all of that and so much more after this short break hello psychology of your 20s listeners if you're like me you love feeling
confident and empowered in your own skin or maybe i should say your own hair madison reed is the hair color company that's changing the game madison reed believes that your hair color should reflect the real you bold beautiful and unapologetically authentic whether you're touching up your roots going
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got everything from root touch -up kits to gloss treatments and more and here's the best part their formulas are made with ingredients you can feel good about free of harsh chemicals like ammonia and parabens which I personally love plus Madison Reed stands behind their products with a money back guarantee
so you can try it out with complete confidence so I've got to ask what are we waiting for take the guesswork out of hair color and find the perfect shade today visit madison -reed .com psych20 that's madison -reed .com psych20 Hey, y 'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diez.
My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working -class people and immigrants who shaped my life.
I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before.
Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated.
All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks.
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I started to live a double life when I was a teenager.
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My head is pounding.
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It's hard to understand what hope is when you're trapped in a cycle of addiction.
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Hey, Will. Do you ever get overwhelmed by how much science happens these days?
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A few years ago, I came across an article by someone calling themselves an ink nurse.
And they talked about this idea of ink or tattoo therapy.
be essentially her take was that everything we feel emotionally and mentally cannot disappear through the mind alone it also needs to be processed by the body now for some people emotions are processed through tears and grief maybe rage exercise making art for others the way they process trauma psychological
pain heartache anything that the human soul has kind of gone through is through tattoos why is this the case well firstly i think it's because tattoos give us a sense of control we may be lacking in our ordinary life in this way you know you have this immense power to do to your body what you wish to
do with it and it can really help you reclaim your identity by making it your own through an outward depiction of what matters to you or what you find interesting or what you find beautiful you're saying i have complete ownership over my body so this is what i'm going to do with it i want to talk about one
piece of research that really speaks to this reclaiming and this powerful healing of tattoos in particular this piece of research actually looked at the association between childhood abuse and neglect with our likelihood of getting tattoos and piercings it was conducted in germany with over a thousand participants
and they did find tattoos and piercings more common amongst individuals who reported childhood abuse and neglect so they're linking this very deep emotional suffering with a way of adorning and treating our bodies now what they also concluded is that body modification in a sense was actually a very
empowering experience for these people because although they had suffered this like great adversity they were now taking back the control and there was also this weird sense relating to pain and letting that pain be self -inflicted was actually quite empowering compared to times when pain had been used
against them it's deeply psychological and to me this explanation makes a lot of sense and these findings have been corroborated in another piece of research that was published just a little bit later on these researchers talk about how our desire to get specific tattoos or even to get tattoos at all
actually gives us a real peak a real vision into someone's psyche right what they choose to get on their body is actually a really i don't know i don't want to say interesting again but it's a very secretive almost in -depth way of understanding what they've been through and how they see the world so this paper
this was published in 2017 it actually talks about how therapists can prompt an open discussion with someone using their tattoos asking them about their tattoos asking them about their meaning their motivations for getting them as a way to kind of have a breakthrough with a client basically if someone
has a specific piece of art it's obviously important enough for them to have put it on their body so there must have been some motivation that has caused them to think that this is a good idea and that this is what they want what is that motivation linked to what can that tell you about who they are as
a person not only that not only is it linked to control not only is it linked to personality tattoos have also been shown to change how we think about our bodies having that control and being able to make ourselves into a form of art is so mentally powerful if you are someone who struggles with things
like body dysmorphia or just general unhappiness towards your appearance there have been some studies including a specific one I'm thinking about from 2011 that showed that right after getting a tattoo individuals reportedly feel better about their bodies they experience less appearance -based anxiety.
They also express less fear of being perceived.
In that kind of way tattoos are like a psychological armor and for that reason they also influence our emotional state.
So our emotional state influences whether we get them and then once we do get them that has a further impact.
It's like a cycle that is why tattoos can become addictive because the process of getting them makes us feel some sort of way anything that changes our mood such that we associate an activity with immediately feeling better has the capacity to become addictive you know alcohol for example makes us feel
less anxious and more lively that emotional association makes it addictive Amphetamines give us that huge rush, make us feel joyous.
Gambling makes us feel fulfilled by possibility.
Tattoos bring us a sense of control.
And according to that same study, they also make us feel better about how we look.
They make us feel more at peace with our past.
And they can make our lives feel more purposeful and significant.
That is a very addictive feeling.
I think a lot of us would do a lot of things to feel happy in who we are, to feel at peace with our past, to feel meaningful in our life.
That's pretty addictive.
Therefore, getting tattoos is also addictive.
It's a common experience I've heard from tattoo artists that they will get a client who has never had a tattoo before.
They will give them their first tattoo and then a month later, this person will come back and have like dozens because the process for them is so emotionally satisfying some of that comes down to our experiences with pain yes we mostly want to avoid it that's how we're hardwired but there are some people
who actually find it quite pleasurable and quite that brings about quite a sense of relief some people find catharsis in the process of getting a tattoo you know that there's like this painful experience that then provides a really amazing result it lets out pain that they may be feeling internally
all of this actually creates a lot of enjoyment that we associate with the process we can also get quote unquote addicted to tattooing because of the role of two chemicals in our body adrenaline and endorphins endorphins i'm just using as a general way of saying pleasant chemical messages.
So the anticipation of and the pain that we experience from tattooing that can lead to an adrenaline rush.
This will naturally create a feeling of almost euphoria.
Now the adrenaline that is released in response to pain is meant to lessen the painful experience but it actually means that we begin to associate the act of getting tattooed with you know a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings given you know the level of anticipation with any first experience that adrenaline
rush is going to be heightened so the first time you get a tattoo you are going to experience the largest adrenaline rush from the specific activity that you will ever experience.
But people will continue to seek that rush.
And that is why we can perhaps explain people who come back and come back and come back.
It looks like an addiction, but it's more them chasing a specific feeling.
Now, after getting a tattoo, our body will also naturally release endorphins to soothe our pain, to target inflammation.
That also feels amazing.
Some of the endorphins that we'll be experiencing are natural opioids natural pain relievers that we know are extremely addictive so that combination of the rush of adrenaline and then the emotional and physical comfort of endorphins may encourage us to keep going back now this can be a dangerous process
and something that always comes up in discussions about tattoos is regret if you're getting a tattoo after tattoo after tattoo are you making the best decisions are you being wise about what you want on your body permanently now this is always going to come into this discussion and you'll frequently
hear it from like older generations or people who feel uncertain about tattoos they'll ask you like are you sure you want this on your body forever like you know that this is forever right are you sure that 30 year old you or 50 year old you or 80 year old you is that version of yourself going to love
it as much as you do now like how do you know this is a smart decision i'm going to answer that question for you right here right now you don't you don't and there is potential regret in absolutely everything so chances are you might look at that tattoo at some point and say yeah that wasn't the best
decision but I don't think we need to fear regret all that much I don't think it's actually the worst thing that you can ever experience I even think about the tattoos that I don't like now I still enjoy them for what they meant to me back then they're kind of like scars in a way you know they make
a good story they tell something about my experience and they bring me a very strange but very valued connection with my past self like I can tap into exactly what she was thinking at that time which I find quite special and you know tattoos are going to change as you get older they aren't going to
look the same they're going to be shaped by age and that is something that you can that you should be remembering but also these days like they're not permanent i saw that image of pete davidson recently when i was in la like i saw the billboard that he did for a reformation like all of his tattoos
gone like it's possible it's expensive but it's possible probably not what you should be considering though like if you're getting a tattoo and you're thinking oh whatever i can remove it someday not the mindset you should go in with because it is still a painful process and it still will leave a mark
and like this is you should be thinking of it as permanent if you want to get like a semi -permanent tattoo like go and get those ones that you can like put on with a wet cloth like if you're going and thinking I can get this removed one day you know the easiest way for that to happen is to just not get
it right now so I want to briefly talk about some tips for making the right decision about a tattoo because it's important you know if you want to get one I think that's amazing I really like mine I find them like very decorative very fun good conversation starters but you want to make smart decisions
like you don't want your first tattoo to be like an all -out like snake down your entire body or maybe you do but this is what you should be thinking about the most common reasons people regret their tattoos according to a recent piece of research is that it was impulsive so around 35 % of people say
I regret it because it was impulsive it didn't have a significant meaning or they thought it would make them look cool and it doesn't what we do find is the more thoughtful and careful you are about a tattoo the less likely you are to regret it so if you are thinking about getting something on your
skin before you do print off that tattoo the tattoo design that you have put it somewhere that you'd see it every single day to make sure you don't get sick of it and I think it's like recommended to do this for like three to six months you know if this is a tattoo you genuinely want and that you're
going to love you're still going to want it in six months you're still going to want it in a year and this is a great insurance for you to say okay if I had to look at this every single day would I still want it secondly when you start start small start with somewhere not visible also just important
to see how your body reacts to it whether like you actually like the process and you're not halfway through a tattoo in so much pain regretting it and it's somewhere really really visible I think that's just wise um don't get tattoos when you're drunk oh my lord i have friends who have done this not only
did they end up looking really bad because their blood was really thin so it leaked but it really comes down to the impulsive nature of this this might be a controversial one and it might sound hypocritical considering i got like my first tattoo when i was 18 but if i had to go back i would say don't
get a tattoo before you turn 20 please like I don't know why that feels like a good distinction but the longer you can wait the better I think getting a tattoo young and I still think like 18 19 20 is quite young um I'm not saying it's going to increase your chances of regretting it I'm just saying
that getting a tattoo a little bit older might reduce your chances of regretting it and finally be safe and if it costs more that's not a bad thing this is like a permanent accessory for you think about how much you would spend on a really nice pair of jeans really nice pair of shoes on a handbag like
this think about cost per wear here you're going to be wearing this every single day of your life.
So it is an investment.
Go to a good tattoo artist.
I have seen so many terrible tattoos in my day and on Reddit and on Pinterest and on Instagram.
You don't want to be that just because you want the tattoo really badly right now.
You will still want it in three months when you have a little bit more money.
Trust me, it really makes all the difference.
I am so lucky that one of my best friends is a tattoo artist and I trust her more than anyone and you can really tell the difference between someone who is really passionate about their craft and does everything right and someone who is doing tattoos for five dollars at like somewhere on a strip mall
so those would be my most significant important tips also maybe some advice to younger Gemma to baby Gemma around what she should have done differently you know what though I want to finish out this episode by saying it is your body it is your body to have regrets about it is your body to modify it
is your body to express and to demonstrate with and to decorate so yes make smart decisions but don't consider disappointing people as part of it don't consider what other people are going to think too much so in this consideration of getting a tattoo if it's something that's important to you if it's
something that you think will ground you if it's something that you think will help with healing and will you know perhaps psychologically shift how you see yourself that is always going to be worth it in my mind and if you just like it and you want a tattoo do it like you're young if you're worried
about other people's opinions get it somewhere no one can see make it quite an intimate part of you I actually think it's quite a beautiful rite of passage it's something that was on my bucket list when I'm a kid I'm glad that I've done it and for all the thoughts about it again it just comes down to
personal preference and what's going to make you feel good and what's going to make you feel happy in the form and the vessel that you're in so I hope you enjoyed this episode now the people who make it this far know that they will always get a little emoji so for your emoji choose the emoji that you
would most want tattooed on your body let's confuse the people who don't listen to the end but then pretend they do because they see the emoji what are you most likely to want to get from the little emoji list and if you have a tattoo let me know do you regret any of your tattoos and why let's kind
of share the word share the knowledge so someone else might not make the same mistake i've already told you mine i regret two of mine my 22 and my one post breakup but i still love them so i hope you still love yours as well but please share below make sure that you are following and you leave a five
star review also if you have further questions, stories, I don't know, comments about this episode, you can always message me at thatpsychologypodcast on Instagram.
I'd love to hear from you.
Until next time though, stay safe, please be kind, be gentle to yourself and I will talk to you very, very soon.
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Hey y 'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz.
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Hey, y 'all. It's your girl, Cheeky's, and I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and Chill.
I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys.
And as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties, and more.
And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheeky's.
It's going to be an exciting year and I hope that you can join me.
Listen to Cheeky's and Chill season four on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.