If you’re getting a tattoo, you can never be 100% sure it will age well and the initial meaning will stay the same. Well, Leah Holland, 25, of Georgetown, Kentucky has experienced it firsthand.
On March 4, 2020, she got her tattoo which reads “courageously & radically refuse to wear a mask.” In fact, Leah had wanted to get this particular tattoo for two years before she finally did it. But two days later, Kentucky announced its first case of coronavirus and the rest is the pandemic history which keeps on rolling.
Bored Panda reached out to Leah, who was happy to share the backstory of her tattoo, which has gone viral since the TikTok tattoo challenge. The media dubbed Leah its “winner” for obvious reasons.
Leah told us that it all started when “a few years ago, my friend and I were talking about things we admire about each other. He told me he admired how 'real' I am and how I’m not afraid to be completely myself. He said I 'courageously and radically refuse to wear a mask.’”
The Kentucky woman assured us that the quote really meant a lot to her. “I wanted to get a tattoo with those words years before I got it. On March 4, 2020, I did it!”
But as you can imagine, Leah could have never guessed how badly it was about to age. “Unfortunately, I had no idea how drastically the term 'wearing a mask' would change," she commented.
When asked whether she regretted the tattoo, Leah said that she was “very self conscious of it, especially last summer.” In fact, it even made her wear sleeves or cardigans as she felt the need “to cover it up constantly.”
On the other hand, Leah doesn’t necessarily regret it. “Mine was just a timing issue. I'm still glad I got it because that quote means a lot to me. Considering Covid, it's fun to laugh about, too.”
She also added that the whole experience of her pandemic-era tattoo going viral was “a real fun experience.” “It honestly brightens my day to see other people laugh about it, because I’m doing the same,” Leah concluded.
