A Girl and her Bird Tattoo

A Girl and her Bird Tattoo: Tattoo inked at Burwood's Tattoo Temple

Taking on a love for tattoos, I decided to get inked again. I didn't exactly put much thought into this tattoo, I saw a photo on the internet and thought it would be perfect symbolism for my outlook on life.

As many of you know I like to find the escapism in life and I have a huge appreciation for what I have and for my friends and family. Birds, I associate with freedom. They also have wings, which I desperately wish I had because I have a dreadful fear of flying.

And recently I read this touching article online written by Sina on the website Karenstan (original article here). It really put my life into perspective and made me think about my future.
Sina talked about how as a nurse she worked in palliative care and talked to many of her patients which were sadly sent home to die.
When she questioned her patients about any regrets they had or what they would have done differently in life, top five themes surfaced again and again:

1. I wish I'd have the courage to live a life true to myself, not the lives others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

3. I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Thinking about these, I would feel exactly the same if I knew I were to leave this earth. Many of these themes resonate with me, like Reason 1, I wish I'd have the courage to live a life true to myself, not the lives others expected of me. I think so far in my life, I did fulfil a dream: become a blogger. Growing up with friends whose parents expected them to get high-paying 'respectable' jobs (i.e accountants, doctors, auditors, scientist) my path in the fashion world isn't exactly what most parents wanted in my generation. But I was lucky enough to have a mum who realised that it doesn't matter what job you had, it was how happy you were and that it was my decision. I hope to continue to live true to myself, even when down the track, I don't have the desire to be a blogger anymore I still have the courage to change that, too.

Reason 3, is another one that I think it's important too:  I wish I had the courage to express my feelings. Even now, at 26 years old I feel this is really important. I once loved someone for a very long time but it took me years to properly express it. I wish I had expressed it sooner to save myself such heart-wrenching nights. Honesty scared me, but when I finally confessed I actually felt relieved. And that relief brought me happiness. I hope to leave this earth with a light heart not filled with regret and the burden of not sharing how I felt. My feelings are just as important as others and I bet many special moments will be created from my sheer honesty.

I wish that I had let myself be happier. Sina writes in her article that most people don't realise that Happiness is a choice until the very end. Sometimes being caught up in life and and letting a bad/sad event bring you down fills up most of the days and hours in the week. I hope to learn from this theme and try to cheer up quicker because life is too short to hold grudges or be upset. People have the misconception that happiness is only adorned to people who deserve it when really, you just have to choose it.

So anyway, I read this article around the time I got inked and now I am reminded of the article when I see my tattoo. This article impacted my thinking so much.
I hope that when I am ready to leave, I have no regrets, grudges or bitterness with my life. And that I live my life honestly and follow through with my own choices. I'm thinking my next tattoo should be the words COURAGE. Courage to live, to be happy, to be true.