By Bex Peterson, Editor-in-Chief
Next Tuesday Iām scheduled to get a pretty big tattoo inked onto my right bicep.
Iām really excited about it, but as with most life changes, a bit nervous too. Actually, I think Iām more nervous that I might become nervous and chicken out last secondāextremely unlikely, but man, wouldnāt that be embarrassing?
I already have a tattoo, but Iām not exactly impulsive about these things. I sit on ideas for years and years, dithering over my bank account (especially if there isnāt much in there) and scrolling through portfolio after portfolio to find the perfect tattoo artist (usually falling in love with the art style of an artist whose books are firmly closed for the foreseeable future). After all, itās on your skin foreverāright?
Well, not exactly. Tattoos fade over time, especially if you donāt take care of them. You can have tattoos lasered off or covered up if you decide that ālive laugh loveā impulse tatā you got on vacation with your high school friends in Cuba just isnāt doing it for you anymore.
The permanence of tattoos isnāt what makes me pause. Itās the limited real estate; specifically, the limited amount of skin I have available for inking.
Let me be clear: So far, I only have one tattoo. A relatively small wrist tattoo. I have plenty of space left. But itās finite; if I keep getting tattoo after tattoo, Iām going to run out of space one day, and what if thatās the day I realize thereās a design I just have to have on my body with no place to put it?
Given that my current tattooing rate is approximately one tattoo every four years or so (and Iāve had to save up for over half a year to feel financially comfortable enough to blow money on this one), this is incredibly unlikely to happen. Iām also 5ā9, which gives me a bit more skin space to work with than some people. But still. What if?
I think this is the impulse that makes people afraid to do things, this idea that we have to wait for an idea to be perfect before we can act on it. Why write that book youāve been plotting forever, when you still donāt have that one minor character arc planned out? Why take that career-launching position with a small company if thereās a better opportunity waiting just around the corner? Why settle, why commit, if it could cause you to miss out on some hypothetical perfection?
Or maybe thatās just me. Iāve certainly abandoned personal projects and been afraid of opportunities because either the projects werenāt perfect enough or I didnāt think I was perfect enough to take on the opportunities presented to me.
But at the end of the day, not to get too dramatic about it, but the real finite resource weāre dealing with is time. If Iām afraid of anything more than Iām afraid of not attaining āperfectionā of some kind, itās that Iāll run out of time before I finish that book, or build a career, or get a big-ass tattoo.
So, Iām getting a tattoo next Tuesday. Maybe one day I will run out of room.
And maybe thatās okay.
Until next issue,
Bex Peterson
