Katya Elise Henry
Katya Elise Henry has a tattoo on the left side of her ribcage which says “Thorns and Stings / And Those Such Things / Just Make Stronger / Our Angel Wings,” a quote by Terri Guillemets. (more…)
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Inspirational Tattoos
Claudia Sulewski
Claudia Sulewski gets a first tattoo on the back of her left ankle. She inked the word “SHINE” as a reminder of no matter how hard things might be sometimes, it is important to remain optimistic, positive and always shine.
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Rihanna
In December 2009, Rihanna got her personal motto “Never a failure, Always a lesson” tattooed along the right side of her chest. It’s written backwards so she can read it in the mirror. Artist Bang Bang said:
“I asked her why she wanted that and she said, ‘It’s kind of my motto in life for everything.’ Instead of considering things to be mistakes, considering them lessons…. She said that she wanted to do it in gray, rather than black, because she wanted it to be more subtle…. She didn’t want it to draw too much attention.”
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Gabi DeMartino
Gabriella DeMartino’s wrist tattoo says “once upon a time…” which is the first line of most fairy tales.
She kept quiet about the meaning of the tattoo for a while because it’s so deeply personal. She got it for herself and didn’t feel like she owed an explanation to anyone else. But she finally felt ready to talk about it in a May 2017 vlog, where she explained that the tattoo covers up old scars from cutting herself and reminds her that there can be new beginnings. She was sick of seeing reminders of the dark times in her past and wanted instead to see a positive and uplifting message.
So basically at the beginning of every book it says ‘once upon a time.’ Growing up in high school I was bullied severely. I would cut myself. I have scars all over my wrists, it’s disgusting. I’m not proud of it….It’s a place where I really want to fill up with tattoos because I don’t like what’s on there. I don’t like seeing it. I want a better reminder….I thought it would be wonderful if every time I look down on my wrist I don’t see scars, but I see the beginning lines of a story. And that is ‘once upon a time.’ It’s just a reminder that if I ever feel that low again — which I hope I don’t — it’s a reminder that it’s still the beginning. And it’s up to you if you want to end your chapter, or if you want to add another chapter. I don’t know about you guys but I am totally down for a ton of other chapters.
Her hard times in high school were just one brief chapter of her life, even though it didn’t feel that way at the time. Gabi encouraged any viewers who might be thinking about self-harming to stay positive:
I wish I never did it. To those of you who are going through anything hard, please don’t do it. It may seem bad now but everything is going to be better later on, I promise. When you’re in high school you’re stuck in this little world and you think that all that exists is in that high school, but when you graduate high school there is SO much — so much! And that was just one little portion of your life and one little portion of your world. But in high school it feels like that’s all you know. It’s really easy to get wrapped into all that stuff.
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Maggie Lindemann
On August 8, 2016, Maggie Lindemann showed of a new tattoo on the inside of her left elbow which says “not afraid” in red ink. She appears to have scars from self-harming on this arm just below the tattoo. She has opened up in the past about her struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. “Suicide isn’t a fucking joke,” she wrote in a tweet back in July 2015. In another tweet, which has since been deleted but is archived in this article, she wrote “suicide is something I’ve struggled with since I was little. It’s been a thought all my life. [People] don’t understand how big of a deal it is.”
In separate set of tweets from March 2016, she wrote “depression is a very real thing. it’s not just being “sad” it’s way deeper than that. it’s a crunching, suffocating disease and it’s not something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. suicidal thoughts aren’t ok, if you have thoughts of killing yourself PLEASE tell someone you trust and if you don’t think you can, tell me and I’ll do everything I can to be there for you and get you help. I hate seeing so many people hurting so bad. I have been there before and I can tell you it gets better. It may take awhile but I promise you it does.”
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Maggie Lindemann
This tattoo on Maggie Lindemann’s bicep, which she got on June 18, 2016, is her fifth overall and her first large piece. It says ‘you built a cast around your broken heart, and signed it yourself. you signed it “they were wrong.”‘ in all lowercase letters in a typewriter-style serif font.
These lines come from the spoken word poem “To This Day” by author Shane Koyczan which is about the long-term effects of bullying. It means that even though bullying has a deep and profound impact and leaves you feeling broken, you have to heal yourself and keep going because you have value and you know in your heart that all of the cruel things that other people have said about you are wrong.
On instagram Maggie wrote:
“this quote means so much to me, so I’m veeryyy happy for it to finally be a part of me, thank you once again @romeolacoste I love it so much.”
She told Ampd Up:
It’s from this poet that is my favorite poet, his name is Shane Koyczan. I just always have loved that poem and it’s always helped me when I needed help. So I just thought, why not get it tattooed on me?
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Haley Ramm
Haley Ramm got th words “mother courage” tattooed on her right hip on July 7, 2016 at the West 4 Tattoo by Jon Boy.
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Yasmine Yousaf
Yasmine Yousaf has a tattoo on the inside of her upper left arm which says “pain is only skin deep.” This tattoo is a “Middle finger to the people and things that hold you back in life,” she writes. She had it done in April 2012.
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Jasmine Villegas
Jasmine’s first tattoo was the words “Never Look Back” on her upper back, which she got in May 2012. She told Power 98.3 “that actually was because I went through a domestic violence relationship for over a year. When I turned 18 I wanted my very first tattoo to mean something and I wanted it to be a positive message. So I got ‘never look back’ basically saying — well I can never physically look back it at it — but just so I would never look back at the past and I would keep moving forward.”
Jasmine has been an advocate against abusive relationships and even released a single “Didn’t Mean It” sharing her own experiences. The intro the the music video reads: “Everybody has a story. This is part of my story and it has made me who I am. Never feel embarrassed or ashamed of any trials you’ve endured. Grow from it and Never Look Back. You are not alone.”
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Sierra Kusterbeck
Sierra Kusterbeck has an arrow on the outside of her right index finger. Her friend Melanie Hawkins aka “monkeybird” has a matching tattoo.
People always ask about the arrow tattooed on my finger. Besides the fact that I like arrows, I’m also a Sagittarius–-everyone in the band is-–and the tattoo always points me in the right direction. [source]
