Several years ago, I had a friend that I met with regularly. We'd talk about whatever was on our minds and try to help him sort out a direction for his life. He was single, a bit younger than me, and tended to be impetuous. One day he spontaneously announced his intentions to ride his motorcycle to a beach across the country for college spring break. That was the day we coined the term "tattoo moment".
I have nothing against tattoos, but I don't have one myself. My primary hurdle to getting ink done is determining what I would like to have painted on my body for the rest of my life. My inner graphic designer screams, "It might look great today, but in a decade it will look so played!" I understand that a tattoo (much like a scar) tells where you were at a certain part of the life journey, but my fear is that I might regret the vintage drawing I chose for my arm. What seemed like a good idea at the time might not seem so great after a dozen trips around the sun.
The real tattoo horror story is the drunken tattoo. Fueled by alcohol and the reckless abandon of the moment, needle hits skin and you wake up with a bad headache and the name of a girl you don't remember carved on your forearm. Bad news. Suddenly your options are limited to long sleeve shirts or only dating girls named "Brooke". What happened in Vegas didn't stay there--the secretary took the minutes on your arm.
My friend and I defined a "tattoo moment" as any time you might do something that you'll regret later, be it ten minutes or ten years later. We decided that recognizing and considering these choices before they are made is probably a good idea. A brief "pause and reflect" could save you from a bad metaphorical ink job. Its a commitment to awareness. Our emotions and hormones might be amped up in the moment, and giving a decision some time to breathe is frequently the right option. Nobody wants to wear long sleeves all the time.
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