Story by Sophie-May Williams
‘Imagine if you will, that you put a shirt on once when you were in your 20s, and now you have to wear that for the rest of your life. That is what it feels like to get heavily tattooed before you turn into a fully developed adult human.’ These are the words of Sara Beth Clark, better known as @saraovershares on TikTok.
The content creator — whose extensive tattoo collection spreads across her neck, chest, arms, and ribcage — shared this video with her 26.7K followers. Mostly to convey the realness of hindsight, and that what you may think is a good idea at a younger age, might not be the best decision for your future self. Talking into the camera, then-36-year-old Sara reveals that there are myriad reasons she regrets her tattoos now. But perhaps the biggest reason? They don’t match her current girly, coquette style.
‘Generally, I have a more femme, girly aesthetic than I did when I was younger. I was a lot more dark and spooky and moody,’ Sara says. The creator now wears a lot of white and ruffles, a stark contrast to the ‘indie sleaze, goth’ wardrobe she consistently donned in her 20s. Sara does make a point to say ‘no shade to the artists,’ and that she still gets a ‘ton of compliments’ on her tattoos. ‘I just wish that they weren’t on my body.’
The creator rounds off the video by reiterating the one line that many tattooed people likely hear from their parents, guardians, or older friends and relatives during their early inking stage. ‘I was told that I would regret my tattoos when I got older. I am older, and I do regret my tattoos, and you might too.’
Disclaimer: not everyone will feel this way. Many people — TikTokkers included — share videos about still loving their tattoos years on. In Sara’s case, she’s simply warning the younger generation about the permanency of some decision-making, ink or no ink.
In light of this, Metro spoke with Ioana Rotaru, psychotherapist and director of Ioana Rotaru Therapy. Ioana, who has ‘personal experience’ in this area, having headed straight to the tattoo parlour as soon as she turned 18, says that ‘when we are younger, we crave to have a sense of identity and belonging.’
‘We want to have control over our lives and feel like we have the freedom to be who we are,’ Ioana explains. When we’ve been limited by society or our parents’ rules, we feel inhibited and tend to rebel against that. ‘An easy way of self-expression that gives an instant sense of self-control is getting a tattoo,’ she says.
Loana continues, describing a tattoo as a ‘clear visual symbol that projects to the world who we are.’ Especially when the symbols, images, and quotes that we tattoo belong to a certain tribe or aesthetic. ‘So many of our decisions when we are young are made on impulse, because things are a “vibe” or trend.’ (Depending on who you are, you’ll either belong to two camps: you regret your major life choice, or you don’t. In the first instance, Ioana says that although we legally might be adults, our prefrontal cortex does not reach full maturation until the age of 25. ‘This is the part of our brain that is involved in impulse control, modulation of intense emotions, future planning, complex decision making, and foreseeing consequences of our behaviour.’
Essentially, this means that at a younger age, we likely would not have weighed up every aspect of the complexity of our decisions, thus making choices that we later regret. ‘We’re more likely to act on impulse or as a result of feeling big emotions, not giving ourselves enough space to think them through,’ she concludes. Of course, this includes getting a tattoo.
Why do some people not regret big life decisions?
On the flipside, some people end up being happy with their life choices right up until their dying breath. In terms of tattoos, Ioana says that there are two possible reasons why we might not regret them. The first is the symbolism and significance of the tattoo. ‘Within weeks of turning 18, I went and got a tattoo, which I still do not regret, because it was something meaningful to me, intended to lift me up and empower me on the tough days,’ Ioana reveals. (Picture: Getty Images)
