ugh, scars.

[Fiending_the_freedom]

I'm so frustrated and tired of seeing all of my scars.
After 5 years of the addiction, it's been 1 year and 8 months since I cut last.
And even my oldest scars, they haven't gotten better in the last 4 years.

I don't want to have to go through life explaining why I have these scars.
I would get a tattoo over them, but I don't know if that would fuck up me starting a career and I don't know if i want people to get the wrong impression of me, i just would MUCH rather have tattoos than scars. I mean I already have a lot of tattoos but they are all in places I can hide.

Some careers I am interested are:
Paralegal
juvenile probation officer
social worker
adoption worker

I don't know if getting a tattoo would effect which jobs.

[celine93]

Hi,
Well I can't speak for those jobs in regards to whether or not you can have tattoo's. The best thing to do there would be to do a little bit of research. It's usually pretty easy to find out.
As far as the SH goes, I just want to congratulate you and tell you you're an inspiration on this site.
I can't imagine having to deal with my scars if and when I stop SH, but that thought does, in itself, give me a lot of reason to not stop- the fact that youire facing it- regardless of how scary it is shows that you're strong.
Remember you're not obliged to explain yourself to anyone, but in order to be happy you will have to come to terms with who you are- and that includes your scars.
Whether you choose to cover then in tattoos or leave them bare no one will ever really be able to accept you until you accept yourself.
See your scars as some personal achievement- a reminder of how strong you, and how much you've been through and beaten.
Good luck with everything.
Hope this helped a little,

Kate

[ShatteredWings]

Tats might effect some of those. Since you're supposed to be more "proper" working in law(which is most of your options there), ant tattoos are still a bit of a taboo in those kinds of settings.

Also, i'm pretty sure tatooing over some scars won't work because the skin is thicker and won't absorb the ink the same.

Have you considered getting the scars removed?

[Fiending_the_freedom]

Yes i've researched on scar removal, asked my doctor and dermatologist, scar removal on my arm alone (which doesn't have as many scars as my thigh) would cost 1600 and i can't afford that, plus the whole procedure is super scary and would take months and months and I would have to wear a medical sleeve over my arm during this.

I have consulted tattoo artists, tattoos can cover up scars very well

[ShatteredWings]

Some can, some can't.
That's.. wow pricy. My thought was use the money you'd put into tatoos into scar removal, but um.. won't work costing THAT much. Geeze..

[Dorsum Oppel]

Your scars are your battle wounds, reminders of times to never happen again. Wear them with pride.

[Fiending_the_freedom]

I know what i've been through and i am proud of myself for quitting, but i do not need hundreds of scars to remind me of that.
I just dont want to get a career and have to have people look at them.

[-Silence]

I got a tattoo over a scar on my forearm. I love it, you can barely see the scar and I'd much rather have the question of "what's that tattoo of" than "whats that scar from?"

Tattoo's would most likely mess up those jobs unless you wanted to go to work in long sleeves constantly.

[Fiending_the_freedom]

Thank you! I know it would mess up a job that wouldn't be able to work with that, but it's really nice to have someones opinion that is in the same situation!

[-Silence]

No prob. I want full sleeves to cover my scars, I'm completely done with SHing so I wont be putting money into something I'm gonna mess up and the tattoo I have covered up that scar really well. I also want to get into psychology so if I have to wear sleeves to cover the tattoos, so be it. It was a deep scar and you can barely tell it's there. But hey, thats just me.

[Sordid Saint]

I've seen girls cover up scars with tattoos and they could still look "professional". They just got little girlie things like flowers or something in Japanese, and it was little enough to look good still for jobs.

And adding on to Coyote's post, you could get something in a different language that meant something to you that could keep you from cutting again

Good job on quitting :)