Hi all, I’ve just spent some time browsing through the forums here… some really awesome stuff. I’m a ~30 year old male.

I know that my choice of a tattoo is supposed to be very personal, so I’m not asking anybody to pick my tattoo, design it for me, or anything like that. I’m just looking for some place to start, since I can’t seem to find many tattoos that represent what I want.

Not to get into too much detail, but I’ve struggled with some very serious and very dangerous addictions (both to myself and others) throughout my life. (Not illegal drugs, but alcohol was one of the problems)

I’m an atheist, so AA was pretty much a no go. I tried a couple places and they just tried to convert me, even after I explained I wasn’t interested in religion and had spent the first 18 years of my life in churches and religion – which did absolutely nothing for my problems – and I have no desire to return a decade later.

The way I finally managed to overcome was to learn to separate my internal dialogue. The voice (not an audible voice, I’m not *that* crazy) that tried to convince me that for whatever reason, doing this harmful thing was a good idea. Any dissent to not walking back down that path I’m able to separate and view it as a different part of myself (a destructive part of my brain) that needs to be ignored. I know it sounds crazy, but it turns into an internal argument.

This is *very* personal, so I don’t want to advertise the details of this to the world. However, I want it for *me*, and I don’t mind if people see the tattoo obviously. Something like a bracelet or a ring is something I can take off in a moment of weakness. This is a fight I’m probably going to have my entire life… I want to be able to look at it, and reinforce myself against ‘it’, and remind myself of what I’m fighting. I find the more I personify ‘it’, the easier it is to overcome.

• I’m not sure I want any words, because that’ll lead to inquiries and interpretations. Absolutely *no* to other languages that I don’t speak/read.
• I don’t want to directly reference alcohol or the other addictions.
• I don’t want most of the usual ‘inner strength’ tattoos I see – crosses, scripture, angels, etc. They would be meaningless for me.
• I don’t mind something ‘dark’ or ‘ugly’. One line of thought I had was some sort of creature – maybe a snake – or skull impaled on a spear. (I’m looking at possibly my inner or outer bicep, so for professional environment even a short sleeved shirt would be fine)
• I know one of the ways to get this done is to sit down and talk it out with an artist whose art you like, but I really don’t want to get into this much detail about my personal struggles with them.
• I don’t want it to be overly obvious that it’s this sort of tattoo. I’m happy with people saying ‘cool tattoo, what’s it mean?’ and me being able to brush them off with something as simple as ‘I like how it looks’ with no further pressing.

Does anybody have any advice? Any tattoos or art to look at that would be in this general area? I know it’s very vague and very broad, but I’m having a hard time locating examples for this sort of tattoo. The ones I’ve found are mostly religious or directly reference the addiction(s).

Thanks so much.