What Was I Thinking? The Crazy Life of Teenage Me

When we are in our teenage years, we tend to be reckless, fearless, and we don’t think much about our actions. It’s a time when if something makes us happy, we’ll do it, even if it’s scary.

In the things we do, our peers have a strong influence on us. That’s because for most teenagers, their strongest bond is with their friends.

That’s why, most of the time, whatever our friends do, we also end up doing.

I did a lot of crazy things when I was a teenager. I can honestly say I wasn’t a good example of a teenager because of all the wrong and crazy things I did.

I started smoking at the age of 13, and at the same age, I also began drinking alcohol, things teenagers shouldn’t be doing. The only difference is, I did it without being influenced by anyone else.

From what I remember, I think I was even the one who influenced my group of friends to smoke and drink.

I also tried marijuana during my teenage years. One of my friends brought some to our hangout spot, and we smoked it. That was the first time I got high, but I didn’t get addicted to it.

I also joined a fraternity during my teenage years. Because of hazing, I went home with bruises all over the back of my legs. What’s funny is, no one even recruited me, I just went on my own to the fraternity headquarters I knew about and said I wanted to join.

But that wasn’t the craziest thing I did as a teenager. I was 16 years old, and the day before New Year’s, my friends and I decided to get tattoos.

One of my friends said he was going to get one, and I had also been wanting a tattoo for a long time.

It wasn’t planned, it just happened that day.

We went to this guy who did tattoos. He was a beginner, had no studio, and we probably weren’t even his 100th client yet.

I thought of what design I wanted that day, and out of all the ideas I had, I ended up choosing a monkey lighting a wick. The wick was shaped in a circle and had “Dec 31” written on it, so I’d never forget the day I got the tattoo.

That was the start of my tattoo journey. I kept getting more tattoos, the designs got bigger and started to overlap. I got tattoos on different parts of my body.

Every time I thought of a new design, I’d get it inked on me.
Why was this a crazy experience for me? Because when I got home, I had to hide it. I hid it for years because I didn’t want my mom to get mad and think I had joined some gang.

Now, the tattoo is faded, it’s been 33 years.
Honestly, if I had the chance to get all these tattoos removed, I would. But the problem is, I don’t have the budget for it.

There’s no bad memory attached to these tattoos. It’s just that as I grow older, I realize I shouldn’t have done it. But it’s too late, it’s already on my skin.

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to afford to have all my tattoos removed.

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