525,600 – My New Tattoo & What It Means

Hello, beautiful people – I hope you’re all having absolutely fabulous days, nights and everything in between! (God knows with all the clubbing we’ve been doing recently, I have been. I love summer.)

In preparation for Australia (and, hopefully, living my best life) your girl has been putting in work to look her best self. Now, I know to other people this might mean “going to the gym” and “getting a haircut” and... power to you, these are all things I definitely should do.

However, for me, my standards of beauty are less “Love Island” and more “something out of a book about myths and legends”. You guys know me; I love that fantasy, fairy look. I want long, dark, witchy hair and arms covered in tattoos that make me look like a walking forest.

So my “looking my best self” is getting new piercings and a new tattoo. Unfortunately, I happen to be saving so I couldn’t get any big pieces (sigh. I need a tattoo artist boyfriend.) – but I have had a few small, meaningful additions that I thought I would share with you all! If you guys remember my Week In The Life post, you may remember that I shared when I got a ‘lil tattoo with you all... and if you don’t remember, take a watch of my video!

The first of newest ink additions is this tiny ‘lil number tattoo: 525,600.

What does 525,600 even mean, Mia?

Is likely to be your first question. Allow me to explain. As with everything, I have multiple meanings for my tattoo.

Meaning #1: Time

There are 525,600 minutes in the year. This tattoo is a reminder to make the most out of all of them; that time is finite and fleeting. Sometimes it’s easy to live your life day to day and forget that time is escaping you. It’s harder to ignore the fact when you’re looking down it.

I’m most definitely not the only person who’s guilty of kind of ruining their present lives for a future that isn’t guaranteed.

Since I was very young, living with my mother hopping from shitty flat to shitty flat on a very small budget, I have been very conscious of money. Not in a massively materialistic way, but in a “money doesn’t buy you happiness, but the security and opportunities and it offers you does” way. And I am very grateful for this part of my upbringing; we now live together in a lovely house and are quite comfortable in terms of finances, but I very much appreciate money, working and the realities of not having money.

And so, since I was very young, I have always “worked hard now for it to pay off later”. Not that there’s anything wrong with this, but when is later? When do you have to stop working hard? You only have a finite amount of time and a lot of people don’t have the opportunity or means to enjoy it fully. If and when you can, stop living for the future and enjoy the minute you’re in.

Meaning #2: RENT

The second reason is something my mum instantly clocked and, for the first time ever, she instantly approved of a tattoo idea and was praising how lovely it was. Most of you will have no clue what RENT is, but I will try to explain.

So RENT is a musical about the most diverse friendship group of bohemian people living in New York during the 90’s. It’s follows their stories, going into HIV, bisexuality, homosexuality, cross-dressing, art, love, friendship, death and all that jazz, but for me the overarching theme is love and inclusivity. It’s honestly so moving and beautiful that nothing I say will do it justice.

If you want the kind of vibe of it, though, watch this clip and fall in love. (Also, for those of you who love Idina Menzel because of Frozen, you can absolutely fight me because she’s been a whole queen since RENT and I think she should be more known for this.) (And I really want “La Vie Boheme” tattooed too.)

(Also, the music is banging.)

My mother and I stumbled across the movie RENT years ago and we instantly fell in love. It became a staple movie for us, we watched it all the time and, when it came to the West End, we were immediately there.

Anyways, there’s this song from the soundtrack, Seasons Of Love, that I just love. It’s absolutely beautiful and profoundly moving.

Measure in love
Measure, measure your life in love”

At the end of the day, what matters the most in life isn’t so much what you do, it’s how you feel. It’s spending time with people you love, doing things you love, feeling and recieving love.

That, to me, is what that song celebrates and teaches – and it’s something I massively believe. So it’s not only a tattoo to remind me to make the most out of my time on earth, it’s also one to remind to make the most out of it in a certain way.

I’m very grateful to my mother for exposing me to this kind of media from such a young age. It massively shaped my opinions, my values and morals. Not only am I a lot more accepting of other people and alternative lifestyles, but I appreciate my own individuality a lot more too.

Meaning #3: Home

You guys have heard how much I’ve mentioned my mother’s influence on this tattoo already; I’d been wanting to get this or “la vie boheme” for years, but as I am moving out to Australia and I am going to massively miss my parents (it’s the only thing I’m really worried about, to be honest), I really wanted something to represent one of the biggest gifts my mother has given me: unconditional love and the teachings to see and accept people from all walks of life, quirks and all.

So that’s what my newest tattoo means!

While we’re on the topic of sharing tattoos, to all you lovely ladies who asked me about my first tattoo (the big rose in a triangle one) and wanted a post on it, I promise I will eventually do a post about it. But (there’s always a but, right?) my first tattoo is what I lovingly refer to as a starter piece. I absolutely love it, but there are some areas I want retouched and added to/perfected before I share it.

Okay, you beautiful humans – I hope you enjoyed this ‘lil peek at one of my latest tattoos. Have any of you seen RENT? Have I possibly convinced some of you to? Do you have any tattoos? Let me know your thoughts down below!

Peace,

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