I always knew growing up I wanted to get a tattoo of some sort. I knew that I wanted to get something that had a lot of meaning to it and a story behind it. I always liked the idea of having a semi-colon tattoo as it represents the story that never ended. This is the story of what inspired my first tattoo.
When I was 19, I went through one of the biggest challenges in my life to date. I went through a break-up with my high-school boyfriend after being with him for four years. When this relationship ended, I was devastated. I felt really lost and back then, it felt like the end of the world. I didn’t think I could overcome the heartache the relationship left me in or that it was remotely possible to move on, but I was wrong.
They say that when you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way you can go from there is up. After the breakup, I drowned myself in work and worked two jobs for about seven months. In that time, I met a lot of new people, I bought a car, committed to college four hours away from my hometown, and learned how to be comfortable with being alone. As the days went on, the heartache lessened, and things got easier to cope with.
The summer before I left for college, my coworker was talking about how she wanted to get a tattoo. I asked her if I could come with her and get one too. We planned on going that Friday after our shift. It took me a few days to figure out what I wanted, but it came to me on the drive home from work one evening. The song “Feel Invincible” by Skillet came on. After listening to the song, I knew I wanted the word invincible tattooed on me. I also wanted to incorporate the idea of the semicolon into it.
When my coworker and I went to get our tattoos, I was pretty nervous, but not because I didn’t tell my parents I was getting a tattoo. I didn’t know what to expect at all, but they made the experience memorable. I watched her get her tattoos done before I got mine. I was so nervous I actually held a stress ball the entire time they did my tattoo. It only took about 30 minutes for the tattoo to be done, and the artist asked me what inspired the tattoo and they actually played “Feel Invincible” for me as they were finishing the tattoo.
The word invincible is defined as being incapable of being conquered, defeated, or subdued. To me, my “invincible” tattoo is my daily reminder that I can handle anything and any setback in my life. It is my reminder that even when life seems to be throwing consistent curveballs and that nothing will get better, I am invincible and I can get through anything.