I love minimalist tattoos. Many of my tattoos are minimal, and the reason for it is two fold. First, I just like it. I like the aesthetic, and I like having a small, unsuspecting symbol that carries so much meaning. The second reason is something that is debated amongst anyone with tattoos. I know people that absolutely hate it when they repeatedly get asked what it means, and there are others that will go into every single detail, even down to the placement. As a storyteller, I love it when people ask about my tattoos. I thoroughly enjoy explaining the nuances of the different pieces.
So naturally, I’m always trying to find different ways of representing something big in a minimalist design. Which is what led me to glyphs. Simply put, they’re symbols that represent various aspects of life. They’re exactly what I like in a tattoo; small, unsuspecting symbols that carry meaning.
Create.
If you’ve found yourself reading this, it should come as no surprise that I love creating. For as far back as I can remember I’ve always loved being able to make things. As a teenager, and even at the beginning of college, I would get random work helping on construction sites. There was always something fulfilling about seeing a structure go up. Through the use of my own hands, and a variety of tools and materials, I (as part of a team, of course) constructed something that didn’t exist before.
This kind of fulfillment obviously continues in my life now, but in a more virtual space. I would love to continue creating in a physical capacity, but I don’t have the opportunities. Creating for me now is most often in video or photo form, and more increasingly in written form.
Explore.
Exploration is yet another passion of mine. One of my favorite parts of moving to such a relatively unknown country is that I hadn’t seen photos of it plastered all over the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I love New Zealand and Hawaii and all the photos people take there, but having the feeling of discovering something for the first time is unmatched. I realize that I will never be the first person to discover something, but being in Albania is as close as I can get. Swimming in lakes, chasing waterfalls, and climbing mountains that I never knew existed until recently makes me feel like a real explorer.
Learn.
It’s no secret that I am not a fan of school. I never have been. I went to college specifically to fulfill a dream of mine in playing basketball in the NCAA, but had it not been for that I possibly would have never bothered attending. As soon as I walked across that stage in 2014 there was no doubt in my mind that I would never go back into that form of education. That being said, however, I love learning.
Learning can be done in so many different environments that do not include a whiteboard, taking notes, or exams. When I finally understood this, I finally fell in love with learning. Through practical experience, through self-guided studying, and by listening to those wiser than myself I have learned far more than I would have expected. It’s possible that I have learned more outside of a classroom than I ever did inside one.
Watch me willingly let a man stab me repeatedly with a needle.