Bo pharts achelor

Did you get a chance to see anyone with a tattoo like this?

If you didn’t, maybe you just didn’t pay close attention. Because they’re popping up…

Literally everywhere

You heard us, the semicolon, this small tattoo gained popularity in recent years, but unlike other random or mysterious trends that pop up, this one has a serious meaning behind it

This tattoo represents mental health struggles and the importance of suicide prevention

The Semicolon project was created from a social media movement in 2013, they are described as a ” movement dedicated to presenting hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide, addiction, and self-injury. Project Semicolon exists to encourage love and inspire”

OK, that cool. But why a semicolon?

” A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life. ”

Originally this was only one day where people were encouraged to draw a semicolon on their bodies and photograph it, but it grew from there and became much bigger and permanent. Today, people from all over the world are tattooing this mark as a reminder of their struggle, victory, and survival.

The Semicolon Tattoo Project which is an organization that was inspired by the semicolon movement is trying to reduce the stigma around mental illness. In 2012 over 43 million Americans dealt with a mental illness. It’s really not that uncommon yet because of the stigma around it many people don’t talk about it and that’s the barrier to getting help.

” The tattoo is a conversation starter ” Jenn from the project explains, ” People ask what it is and we get to tell them the purpose. I think if you see someone’s tattoo that you’re interested in, that’s fair game to start a conversation with someone you don’t know, it provides a great opportunity to talk. Tattoos are interesting, marks we put on our bodies that are important to us ”

Last year The Semicolon Tattoo Project held an event with several tattoo shops where people could get the semicolon tattoo for a flat fee. That money was a fundraiser for the crisis center and over 400 people did the semicolon tattoo in one day.

So next time you see this small punctuation tattoo, remember this story, and have a clue

from iheartintelligence.com (via lovedbythesavior):

1. Sonder: The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.
2. Opia: The ambiguous intensity of Looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.
3. Monachopsis: The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.
4. Énouement: The bittersweetness of having arrived in the future, seeing how things turn out, but not being able to tell your past self.
5. Vellichor: The strange wistfulness of used bookshops.
6. Rubatosis: The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat.
7. Kenopsia: The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.
8. Mauerbauertraurigkeit: The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like.
9. Jouska: A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.
10. Chrysalism: The amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm.
11. Vemödalen: The frustration of photographic something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist.
12. Anecdoche: A conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening
13. Ellipsism: A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history will turn out.
14. Kuebiko: A state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence.
15. Lachesism: The desire to be struck by disaster – to survive a plane crash, or to lose everything in a fire.
16. Exulansis: The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it.
17. Adronitis: Frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone.
18. Rückkehrunruhe: The feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness.
19. Nodus Tollens: The realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore.
20. Onism: The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time.
21. Liberosis: The desire to care less about things.
22. Altschmerz: Weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had – the same boring flaws and anxieties that you’ve been gnawing on for years.
23. Occhiolism: The awareness of the smallness of your perspective.