I went 51 years without a tattoo. Not because I was against them, but because nothing in my life ever felt permanent enough to mark into my skin. I couldn’t imagine a symbol or a moment that mattered enough to live there forever.
A couple years back, though, I had this idea that when I turned 50, I’d get a tattoo with a checkbox that said “Get a tattoo” just so I could cross it off in the most me way possible. A little self-aware. A little smartass. A little nod to the fact that I’ve lived most of my life trying to do things differently.
But last year I realized something deeper. I wasn’t looking for a cool design. I was looking for a belief. Something that had actually shaped me.
That’s when Memento Mori showed up.
“Remember you’ll die.”
It sounds dark until you’ve lived enough years to understand the freedom in it.
Because once you truly get that the clock is running, you stop sleepwalking. You stop waiting. You stop thinking tomorrow is guaranteed. You start living today like it actually matters.
For me, that shift didn’t come at 20. Or 30. Or even 40. It hit me after half a century of false starts, unfinished stories, and the moment where I almost didn’t get a second half at all.
So I merged the two ideas – my quirky, sideways entry into the tattoo club and the one philosophy that’s changed how I see every day I wake up.
An hourglass, time slipping.
A skull, the truth we all avoid.
Two checkboxes.
Two reminders.
One for the kid in me.
One for the man I’m finally learning how to be.
Get a tattoo.
Memento Mori.
Both checked.
Both earned.
And every time I look at it, I’m reminded of the same thing:
We’re all running out of sand.
But that day isn’t today.
So live today like it’s one worth checking off too.
Trail Marker:
What belief have you earned the right to wear? What truth has shaped you enough to mark it permanently – whether on your skin or just in how you live?