I think tattoos are great if you put time to think about them before getting one done. If you have a tattoo that you are proud of, this is a place to show (and tell about it)
This is my first tattoo. I started with the bottom picture. It says, "We are so fragile and easily broken". Its lyrics from the song Giants Among Common Men by Jamies Elsewhere. It was originally going to to have a guy wandering around in the woods but after drawing it up we decided it wouldn't work well since the words would be small and you wouldn't see the man. I ended up settling on the text with a landscape. I later decided I wanted to drag it across but having a landscape spread my entire back would have been boring. So a bird (peregrine falcon) was decided on. I brought the mist around with it since I will hopefully get off my ass and draw a cityscape that will be on my right shoulder into a partial sleeve. It honestly doesn't really mean much/anything to me but it is a reminder that life has its ups and downs. Make the most of what you have and don't let simple things break you down. This is actually the chemical molecule for Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. I got this on my 23rd birthday. It's very simple and I went in with two friends who both had a different molecule. It (sort of) represents how we met and really became friends. We have all been through quite a lot with each other so getting something that brought us all together was what popped into our head. As for explaining them to others, yes. We were young, dumb and having fun with what we got. I still to this day am in touch with them and see them quite often. I do not regret this tattoo, although it is quite a pain to explain to others, quite amusing to see their reaction when you have to dumb it down and tell them. Yes, it is LSD or acid. The looks are priceless. It also becomes a pain at festivals as people are always walking up asking if you have any acid to sell. It makes it a pain to enjoy yourself at times but also sparks some interesting conversations at times.
I don't have any tattoos either, but I've considered on getting two: the character 山 (read as shan) meaning mountain, and 羽 (yu) meaning feather, and lightness (pertaining to weight). The idea comes from the saying, ''重于泰山 轻于鸿毛'' (zhong yu tai shan qing yu hong mao) which translates literally to 'As heavy as the Tai mountain, or as light as a swan's feather.' It can be taken as a warning at least for me- to live meaningfully, and to make a positive impact to society no matter how small, to accept duty and responsibility's weight on myself and not shy away from it. But for now, these remain a fantasy, though I'm slowly mentally etching those two characters into my soul.