No Regrets.

Over a year ago, I got my first tattoo. You can't see it in the picture but it says "Live like we're alive." This tattoo serves as a constant reminder to not only live life to the fullest but to live outside the box as well. To most people, this would mean actually getting out and doing something meaningful and worthwhile with your time. To me, it means more than that. It means take chances. Take risks without constantly worrying about the consequences. Live your life the way you want to live it.

I've always wanted elaborate on my tattoo but I never knew what to add. Recently, I've been thinking too much about my future and what would happen if I were to screw up in the process of getting there. I guess this was happening a lot since I started post-secondary. So after a lot of thought, I decided I would get a phoenix. A phoenix represents many different things to many different people. It serves as a perfect symbol of how I want to live my life. To me, a phoenix can live freely without the fear of making the wrong decisions. The ultimate consequence for a phoenix is death. However, a phoenix can be reborn over and over. To me, the ashes are the decisions of its previous life and its rebirth is a symbol of learning from the bad decisions and growing from the good ones.

As a student, it is hard not to think about my future and how I'm going to get there. I have been living too much for the future and not enough for the here and now. I've made so many plans for what courses I will be taking, how I will study for them and so on that I have forgotten to have fun and relax. It's ok to think about where you will end up but as weird as it sounds, just like your past, you can't let your future control and dictate everything about how you live now.