'You Got Another Tattoo?'

"You got another tattoo?!" She asks. "That's so much money!"

I took a minute, thinking about how I could explain this to my younger (21-year-old) sister and her friends.

I looked around, and saw their freshly made up faces, their perfectly manicured nails, and coloured hair.

I just smiled and said, "I don't wear make up, get my nails done weekly, or buy name brand clothes, so if I spend my money on a tattoo once or twice a year, that's no different than you spending money on that stuff."

And they understood that. But so much more than the monetary understanding clicked for me...

I realised where my confidence stemmed from.

I don't wear make up. I do put the occasional small amount of mascara on, maybe once or twice a year. But for the last three years I've been mostly barefaced, besides necessary facial moisturizers.

I'm not against make up. If that is what makes you feel confident and sexy in your skin, you do you, girl. But my ink does that for me.

There are so many reasons why I love tattoos:

1. They are art.
2. They tell a story about who you are as a person.
3. They tell a story of your life, who you were and who you are now.
4. It's your body, and if you want a random tattoo on your body, GREAT.

For me, it's all about taking control of your body. I've struggled with body image issues my whole adolescence. When I became an adult, I realised that being skinny wasn't everything, but loving your body was. I didn't truly understand this thought. There is a difference between confidence and self love; you can fake confidence, but to truly love your body is a whole different thing.

Personally, my tattoos do so much more than just colour my skin. They give me body confidence. They make me feel sexy as f*ck. I love looking in the mirror at my naked body now.

I'm not a small girl. I am a 5'11" 200 pound woman, and I'm proud of it (now). I'm not fat, I'm pretty thick though. Ask me to run a marathon I would laugh, but ask me to hit a home run to win a fastball game, hell yeah.

The point is, I struggled with confidence my whole life, and then I got some tattoos, they made looking in the mirror something to look forward to, and eventually I realised that the reflection was something to be proud of.

I realised how sexy that confidence made me. Nothing about my physical body had changed, just my perspective.

And tattoos did that for me.

For some people it's doing all that fancy make up stuff, wearing fancy clothing and walking around in high heels. And to those people I say, GREAT. I love confidence in a person, and whatever gives you that is awesome.

For me it's my tattoos, it's my job(s), it's my friends and family.

I get my confidence from living my best life.

I still have my insecure moments, like walking into the gym to work on my cardio, but then I remember what I'm working towards; a better me.

And that is something that gets me fired up. I am not 100 percent confident at all times. But if I'm at least 40 percent confident at one time, I can kind of fake the rest of it.

Whether it's your hair, nails, make up, your designer shoes, purse or jacket, whether it's those piercings or tattoos that give you the confidence to kick life's ass.

Go get it. Go live your best life