The Meanings Behind my Tattoos

I have always loved sports & music. Growing up, I would aspire to be like athletes or artists (like many do) and I was always drawn to their tattoos. Some players are obviously decked out with their whole bodies inked - others with just a few; I was always fascinated by it though.

I found myself analyzing them & frequently googling the meanings behind them. I'll never forget thinking my favorite player, Allen Iverson's "Only the strong survive" tattoo was so cool - I grew out of that, thank god. I also thought his "FAME" tattoo meaning "Fuck All My Enemies" was so cool. Haha, again, glad I grew out of that... He was a fun guy to watch play basketball though!

As I got older (around 18), I would go through phases of wanting a tattoo hardcore and then it would fade away, then come back, repeat... I just could never think of anything that I would want forever though.

I enjoy looking at peoples tattoos, whether they have a deep meaning behind them or not, I appreciate good art.

Personally though, I wanted something that would have a lot of meaning to me... so I put tattoos on the back burner until I knew what I wanted.

To this day, I enjoy hearing the stories behind people's tattoos. The back story always makes the art so much cooler... I often find that people who don't like tattoos at all will appreciate them once they hear the backstory.

So here are the meanings behind my tattoos - Short story, long. I hope you enjoy:

My first tattoo was at age 23.

Left Forearm: "Proverbs 20:13"

Proverbs 20:13 means "Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare."

This is not to be taken too literal because I love a good nights sleep - who doesn't? The point is simply don't be lazy. Sleep till noon every day, oversleep and miss work, etc... and see where your life ends up.

4 months later, I got my second tattoo...

This was taken the day I got the Proverbs 14:23

On the flipside of the first, I got "Proverbs 14:23"

Proverbs 14:23 means "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."

aka. TALK IS CHEAP.

If you know me, you know that I'm very into self development content, motivational videos/podcasts, and real life applicable lessons... I'm constantly trying to be learning myself while also helping & motivating others.

These bible verses just stood out to me as such simple, obvious keys to success in life. I think we often complicate things so much when really the "keys to success" are just doing the work (taking the stairs) every single day even when you don't want to, having insane perseverance & discipline and as a result, over time, you will achieve whatever it is you want. And what do you know, these basic principles are defined right there in the Bible! That's cool to me.

March/May of 2017, I got my shoulder piece.

This is by far my most detailed, thought out piece...

I had so many thoughts of what I wanted for this piece, but the main source of inspiration was actually from a painting called "Times of Peace" that I bought from my good friend, Sage.

In his words, this was the meaning behind the painting:

"It's all about peace, or right now; lack thereof. While the acts that have happened can't be excused there's also a large factor that we fail to see. The media pins all of us against each other's in hopes for a headline. They embellish, withhold bits information when the time is right to shed a negative light on worst subjects and we have no choice but to respond, because by now we're used to being used like puppets in order to stir up shit that shouldn't even be in the conversation. We need to evolve and come together. Spread the peace."

I couldn't agree with it more which is why it is the centerpiece of the whole tattoo.

"In God We Trust"

I put the "In God We Trust"part of a dollar bill behind Lady Liberty for a couple reasons...

1) Money is a big motivator for me.

2) "In God We Trust" is a slogan that represents our country's foundation and is part of my identity - hell, our identity as Americans. My faith isn't as strong as I would like it to be, I need to attend church and just practice faith more in general but I believe in these words.

"Success" & "Change" This is sort of a combination of being part of Sage's original painting representing positive things going on and part of what drives me. Change is one of the hardest things in life and leads us outside of our comfort zones... but usually it is a positive thing and helps lead us to success. Change is a necessary part of life. Change is constant. And success is always the goal in every area of life.

Stock Market

Above the word "Change", the stock market line represents how I just like risk in general. Business is constant calculated risk.

Chess Pieces

In the foreground is a pawn chess piece in focus with the board behind it. I believe in almost everything you do, playing the long game, the patient game, always pays off more than the quick, instant gratification move. This is chess. Chess over checkers.

And honestly one of my favorite parts of the whole piece is the shadow coming off the pawn... did you miss it? A king shadow. To me, this is a reminder to not judge a book by it's cover. What may look weak and not substantial enough, might actually be tough & powerful - not everyone or everything is what it appears...

"Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards."

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The Flag & Words

Pulling it altogether is the American flag waving in the background because AMERICA. I am proud to be from America where we have an insane amount of opportunity. The flag often makes people ask me if I am military which I am not but deeply appreciate those who serve our country & I considered going into the military a lot when I first got out of high school but I bitched out.

As you can see in the pic that was a snapchat, I found out that color hurts to get tatted.

Around the outside of the piece to top it all off are the words: