On an average and quite boring Sunday night, I had a revelation. My life was typical, normal and nothing special. I thought about why nothing exciting happened in my life like it did to the other kids in my high school. I thought about why I was bored all the time and had nothing to look forward to. After reflecting on this thought for a while, I came to the conclusion that my life was not exciting because it just simply was not meant to be. I had trouble accepting this, so I began to think of ways I could put some action into my life.
Immediately I began to think about a tattoo. I had always wanted one, but never actually took the steps to get one. Since I was fed up with my “boring” life, I decided “what the hell.” I began to think of ways to get a tattoo. I knew it would not be that easy, considering I was only seventeen and in Georgia you had to be eighteen to legally get one. I listed all my friends in my head and thought about who had a tattoo or who could get me one. I instantly remembered Hannah Purvis. She had at least three tattoos and in ninth grade, she was my best friend. We talked every single day without exceptions and told each other everything. Our friendship did not have a sour ending, so I knew she would help me if she could. I texted Hannah and said “let’s get tattoos!!” Looking back, I realize that maybe that was not the best thing to say, but anything that would get me closer to my goal was fine with me. When Hannah replied, she said that she had wanted a tattoo and was just waiting for the perfect time to get one, so I figured it was Gods way of telling me that this was, in fact, a good decision.

The next day, Hannah texted me saying that her tattoo artist was available Wednesday at four o’clock! Finally, the day was coming that I was going to put some spice into my life. I searched on the internet looking for the perfect tattoo and after hours of painstakingly searching, I found nothing. For the next two days, I searched and searched and yet again, came up empty handed. I had no clue what to get by seventh period on Wednesday afternoon. There was only one more hour until I would be on my way to tattoo studio where I would make an everlasting mark on my body. I was stressed and worried that I would miss the opportunity I was waiting for, so I decided to look up the usual cliché bible verses that practically everyone recited and made their Facebook status. I came across “Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” and thought “good enough for me” and pushed the stress out of my head. I figured, no one can make fun of me for having a bible verse and it kinda means something to me. So when the end-of-school bell rang, I was off, with Hannah in tow, to get a tattoo.

On arriving to that tattoo “shop”, which was actually in someone's basement, I figured nothing could go wrong. The artist did not ask my age, and all went as planned. I got “Philippians 4:13” tattooed on the thigh of my right leg. After waiting what seemed like hours for Hannah to get her multiple tattoos, we left the house in sheer happiness.

The next day I showed all my friends and got exactly what I wanted. People were amazed that I actually went through with it and they began to think that I had an exciting life. I was truly happy about the attention, but what about spur-of-the-moment permanent ink on my leg? I began to wonder, “will this dumb verse ever mean anything to me?”

Almost three months later I received the answer to my question. It had been the hardest month of my life. It seemed as though I had let everything slowly slip through the cracks and lost touch with what I wanted to do in my life. I put no effort into school and no effort into my relationships. After months of not talking to anyone, I felt alone. I had no one to blame but myself and suddenly the tattoo I only got to excite myself meant so much more. I constantly repeated to myself “I can do anything through Christ”, and slowly but surely I began to piece my life back together. I put effort back into my life. I began to do my best in school and won my friends back. Just as quickly as everything fell apart, it all came back together again.

I realized many things from this difficult experience. Many times, people let their lives fall into chaos and try to blame other people or even God for their average lives. While my tattoo did help me become a stronger person and increase my faith, that was not my only revelation. The most important thing I learned from this experience was this: if I want something in my life, I must put steps into action and make it happen. I am the only person in charge of my own happiness. Not only does this conclusion apply to getting the actual tattoo, it also applied to putting my life back together. I had to put in the above average effort in order to get the above average life. This epiphany has continued to shape the person I am today and I will never forget the day I decided to take control of my life.