As
soon as I felt the needle on my skin I was not sure any longer if this is what
I really wanted. Not because I thought it would not look beautiful at the end,
not because I have not been dreaming about this moment for years, not because I
thought it was morally or religiously wrong but solely because of the
excruciating pain I felt on my arm.
It
felt like all my nerve endings were receiving 1000volts of electricity all at
once while at the same time being burnt with hot iron. It occurred to me that
this is what it might feel like during childbirth and if the pain of child
birth was remotely close to this I decided there and then that when this was
over I would send an appreciation message to my mum.
But as with child birth at
the end of the ordeal I took a look at the masterpiece and decided hmmm when I
can do this again.
The
sign post at the entrance of the studio finally made sense to me not just to my
mind but to all my senses.
The
sign read - You pay for the Tattoo but the pain is free
Good
morning fellow toastmasters and guests this morning I would be telling u about
my experience getting my first of my five tattoos.
Many
people outside the shores of Nigeria will tell you that once you get your first
tattoo, you are also gaining admission into an exclusive club whose members all
have one important thing in common and that is the fact that they are all
inked. But that’s not the case in Nigeria. In the mind of Nigerians if you have
a tattoo that means you are going to hell frequently quoting the bible
scripture Leviticus 19:28 which says ye shall not make any cutting in your
flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you what they however seem to
forget is that it says we shouldn’t do this for the sake of the dead. Strangely
enough the preceding verse says do not cut the corners of your head or shave
your beard but they do not feel having a beard would take you to hell. Hmmm.
Food for thought! But I digress.
Why
did I get a tattoo you may ask? Unfortunately there is no straight forward
answer to that question. It is like
asking why you fall in love with someone. There is never a precise answer to
that I guess it is just a combination various experiences and emotions you have
as a result of both nature and nurture but at the end of the day it all boils
down to one thing you love it and you have got to have it.
The
next decision I had to make was what symbol would be etched on my body for the
rest of eternity. Arriving at this decision was no easy fit but I finally
arrived at the decision of having the caduceus emblazoned on the entire surface
of my right arm from shoulder to elbow. For those who do not know what the
caduceus is – it is the symbol of medicine which is a rod with two snakes
wrapped around it which is from the days of Moses when he was told to raise a
rod with snakes around it and if any with any infirmity looks upon it they
would be healed. I thought this was a
befitting symbol to always remind me and those around of who I am knowing fully
well that in my latter days I would surely deviate completely from it but it
would always remind me who I was at heart.
Having
known I always wanted a tattoo and having decided what symbol I wanted, it still
took about 6 years to finally get it done for fear of doing it in the hands of
the butchers we have here in Nigeria. The
opportunity finally presented itself when I travelled to Malaysia for my master
in business administration and I jumped at it. I arrived in Kuala Lumpur on the
1st of May 2009 and on the 2nd of May I was at a tattoo
parlor in Time Square KL.
What
I learnt from this experience is that pain in all in the mind.
If
you’re a normal person, getting a tattoo hurts. By normal person I mean one
with a regular nerve and skin structure. I am a normal person and my skin nerves are
performing exactly as they should do.
The moment I felt the needle on my skin I
knew it was not going to be a bed of roses but I was not prepared for what
followed. After the first minute I had the urge of telling the tattoo artist
“OK, got it, enough”. After the second minute I had the urge of just running
away. And after the first 5 minutes I really wanted to punch the guy in his
face. Repeatedly. Until he fell to the ground and then kick him in his face repeatedly
for subjecting me to such pain. But none of these actions were available at the
moment.
I just wanted to have my tattoo done and if
that meant I had to go through that pain, well, I had to just stay there. So I
just stayed there. And started to shift
my focus from my pain and the needle to my breathe. I do
this all the time when I want to calm down or just take a break and refuel with
energy. Inhale. Exhale.
To
make a long story short, after the first half an hour I had my pain under
control but after detaching myself from it, I really ok. When I got down from the
chair about 4 hours later, with a caduceus on my arm, I could barely stand and
I was really, really sore. But not in pain anymore.
It
brought a new meaning to the statement it is a mind thing. As with many things
in life at the outset we feel we cannot do, the pain is too much, it is too
difficult. But what we must remember is that it is a mind thing.
In
conclusion I would like us to live us with the phrase made popular by Nike
which is JUST DO IT. This is not a
technical lesson by rather a reinforcement. If you really want to do something
do it while you got the chance to. Do it when you want to and because you want
to because if you postpone you may lose it entirely. Bill Cosby once said he
does not know the formula to success but he knows the formula to failure which
is trying to please everybody.
To
me having tattoos have been a great experience because once my sleeves go up
people realize they really do not know me the way they thought they did.
Thank
you.
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