A 36-year-old woman from Virginia recently went viral after sharing a video about her tattoo regrets. Her arms, upper body, and thighs are covered in ink, but Sara says that her tattoos no longer reflect who she is and openly discusses why. Her honest confession struck a chord with thousands of people who offered their support and shared their own stories in the comments.
Sara explained that it feels like she’s wearing a shirt that she chose in her twenties for the rest of her life, because her tattoos no longer reflect who she is: “I have all of these tattoos that don’t necessarily reflect who I am at 36. And they are here forever.”
At first, commenters were quick to jump to conclusions by saying that her regret is not surprising because she only got her tattoos for aesthetic reasons and the need to appear “cool,” but Sara says it’s actually quite the opposite.
In her 20s, she felt the need to appear tough and edgy and to make her baby face less noticeable: ’’Without my tattoos, my face would tell people that I’m a certain way that I knew I was not. I wanted to look harder and not be noticed by a bunch of dudes.’’ Sara explained that, at the time, she thought something was wrong with her, but after getting her autism diagnosis at 28, many things became clearer to her, and it helped her understand her feelings better.
Using tattoos as a ’’shield’’ to make herself less attractive is something a lot of commenters found relatable: “Oh my, you just helped me figure out a huge part of my life now. Thanks,” one commenter wrote. ’’Just here to validate. Everything you said makes perfect sense,’’ another one said.
And one comment especially resonated with Sara: ’’I totally get it, and I’m so sorry that when you look in a mirror, you see a girl in armor that a woman no longer needs,’’ and Sara confirmed, with tears in her eyes, that this is precisely how she feels.
Despite what some people may think, Sara is not ’’anti-tattoo’’ — she just suggests normalizing talking about past regrets. Getting a meaningful tattoo can be a powerful way to express our personality, show our creativity, or even help us heal. Still, it’s also totally okay if we don’t like them as much sometime after we get them.
I can certainly understand how she came to use the tattoos as armor. We have many different methods of creating armor for ourselves and then at a later time no longer needing it. I feel for her dilemma. I hope that she can find a way to remove what she doesn't want.
