Letting go of the past, one tattoo at a time

Anthony Wilson s own experiences with addiction made him believe in second chances and so when he decided to open his own laser tattoo removal business he saw it as an opportunity to help other people start their lives over again Wilson was deep in alcohol addiction when he checked himself into a Florida rehab and recovery center in May It was the hardest best decision I ever made he announced I left three kids and a failing marriage and a house and my whole world behind Wilson was in detox for two weeks then went to rehab I was gone for a full two months he revealed When he returned to his home state of Minnesota Wilson s marriage was over He knew he had to stay occupied to keep himself from spiraling into depression and turning back to alcohol abuse He d seen a picture of a bad tattoo on Facebook and when he saw a laser tattoo removal machine for sale online he decided to take the leap By November of that year Wilson had purchased the machine took a lesson on how to use it rented an office and opened his business Fearless Tattoo Removal Ever since it s been a journey of self-awareness and healing I love doing it Wilson stated of the work It s been amazing It s helped me personally He used to drink at home so the idea of having nothing to do unnerved him Opening a new business felt like a way to keep himself out of danger he mentioned Having this way to get out of the house was good for me and having a job that helps others made my life feel worthwhile Wilson s not sure if he realized it at first when he opened his business but he s come to believe that tattoo removal is all about second chances My favorite part of the job is hearing the stories about how people are moving forward and what they want to do he revealed Countless people make the decision to permanently mark their bodies without giving the idea enough thought he explained and when you throw in mood-altering chemicals or mental illness questionable decisions can get made Do I think people make less-than-great choices while they are under the influence Wilson announced Yes I deal with it on a regular basis Since opening Fearless Tattoo Removal Wilson stated he s met a large number of people who are desperate to remove images from their bodies that they feel no longer represent who they are Specific people even say that seeing those unwanted tattoos are a reminder of a past that they ve worked hard to put behind them Wilson s not against body art He has a tattoo of his children s names on his chest over his heart But he does want to give people an option to erase what feels to them like a bad decision I like tattoos he stated I just want people to have good tattoos He s especially glad that he didn t get any tattoos while he was drinking If I had had a vodka bottle tattooed on my shoulder when I was drunk now four years later looking at that vodka bottle wouldn t be a good reminder he reported We don t need to stare at the past all the time I m not saying forget the past but I m saying that sometimes it s good to put several parts of the past behind us They want to forget the past and move forward In the spirit of helping his customers start a new chapter in their lives each May in honor of Mental Healthcare Awareness Month Wilson gives away a tattoo removal package to a person who has struggled with addiction or mental illness and would like to remove a tattoo that feels like a painful reminder of their past Another group of people who have tattoos they would like to remove are individuals who have been incarcerated multiple of whom have also struggled with addiction and mental illness Wilson also has a Second Chances campaign where he offers reduced-rate tattoo removal packages to people coming out of prison who have tattoos that they feel mark them for life and make it complex to get by in the outside world They want to forget their past and move forward Wilson stated One such client is Mike Dahlin who was distributed from prison on Feb after serving a -year sentence for second-degree aiding and abetting murder Dahlin has had a large racially offensive tattoo on his upper arm since he was years old four years before he went to prison I was just a kid when I got it he commented I thought it s cool I was really dysfunctional I had a drinking concern I had a lot of anger problems I used race as an excuse for not focusing on my own pain and emotional problems Dahlin stated he wasn t involved in the white power movement when he got the image tattooed on his body and he now thinks he chose the image because he was looking for a way to seem tough People who get that kind of tattoo when they are young like I was they often literally have a lot of emotional trauma Dahlin explained Instead of focusing on your problems you do stupid stuff like get a tattoo You hate others so you don t hate yourself During his decades behind bars Dahlin declared he got several more tattoos but he unfailingly felt that the racially offensive tattoo largest part defined what other people thought of him When he was distributed from prison Dahlin went home to live with his mother and stepfather He researched techniques to get rid of his tattoo and when he learned about Fearless Tattoo Removal and about Wilson s initiative for formerly incarcerated clients he made an appointment When Dahlin went to Wilson s shop Wilson solicited which of his tattoos he preponderance yearned removed Dahlin demonstrated him the racially offensive one It s obvious Dahlin explained It had to be that one I hated it They used it against me at trial And when I got into prison I was lumped in with those kind of guys Now that he s out of prison he knew it had to go I really requested to change and start a new chapter Wilson who explained that most of clients share painful stories of why they got their original tattoos and why they now want them removed was moved by Dahlin s story Even though Dahlin made the decision to mark himself with a deeply offensive tattoo Wilson reported he believes that his client is truly remorseful about the decision While the tattoo in question is offensive and off-putting Dahlin himself Wilson disclosed is truly kind and contrite even gentle He s the nicest guy Wilson explained He s super grateful He s paid his debt He believes that with this tattoo he would not be able to go to the swimming pool and be around kids Dahlin has now had several appointments with Wilson The process of removing a tattoo takes time and the two have gotten to know each other better at each visit They each talk about their struggles with addiction and about the difficulties Dahlin is facing as he slowly gets used to being out of prison and in the free world I ve been having a hard time adjusting to life since I ve been out Dahlin explained With his mother s help he s getting healing for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD I am seeing a therapist and a psychiatrist I have medication that is really helping me I feel bad about the stigma that people get for having their mental robustness treated It is just as crucial as going to the medical expert for a physical difficulty Another key form of emotional encouragement for Dahlin is Archie his mother s Boston terrier I didn t believe in therapy animals when I was in prison he declared But this dog has changed my life I didn t know I could love an animal this much this fast Anthony Wilson These days Dahlin commented just spending time with Archie helps improve his mental healthcare When I first came home when I petted him I could feel the tension and stress go out of my fingertips and go into him Dahlin announced Anyone who s ever experienced PTSD or anxiety necessities a therapy animal that they can touch and feel After a multitude of sessions at Wilson s shop Dahlin s tattoo is almost absolutely removed It s unbelievable how well it worked he explained Anthony revealed that by the time he s done it should be entirely gone I owe him so much The process of having his tattoo removed mirrors the recovery Dahlin s been experiencing since he s been out of prison It gives him hope for a better future less marked by the past If I could change Dahlin declared anyone could change How tattoo removal works Wilson explained that laser tattoo removal is a process of using an immense amount of focused potential to break up the ink in a tattoo so it fractures and is slowly removed from the body in a natural process When we fire a laser at a tattoo we fracture that big particle into pieces Wilson disclosed Then he explained the person s body takes over Your body is going to go in and take out the small pieces it can handle The body is inevitably trying to get rid of the tattoo It doesn t belong there The process of tattoo removal is slow and must be repeated over time Wilson continued We let it heal and we repeat the process as necessary Selected tattoos take longer to remove than others Everybody s tattoos are different Wilson disclosed If your tattoo is black and near your heart and it s very old that will come out much easier than someone who has a very heavy blackout calf piece Removing that style of tattoo could take a much longer time From start to finish that could take a year to year and a half Wilson mentioned The closer it is to your heart the faster it comes out Since he started his business Wilson has taken about people through the process of tattoo removal I schedule half-hour time slots he revealed If it is an initial on your ring finger the appointment could take as little as seconds If you have a giant thigh piece it could take the full minutes Before and after photos of a tattoo Anthony Wilson removed for a client at Fearless Tattoo Removal Credit Submitted photo When Wilson is done with his work he stated he likes his clients tattoos to be erased to the point that If you didn t know it was there you wouldn t see it Several of the largest tattoos he s removed include half-sleeves from wrist to elbow I removed a large phoenix for a woman Wilson declared It was the entire outside of her thigh I ve removed a couple of small crosses that people had on their faces Five-to- of my entire business is face-tattoo removal Clients have different avenues of describing how much the removal process hurts Everybody s different Wilson noted For particular people it hurts quite a bit depending on the location Tattoos on the inside of the wrist or the ribcage or the neck those tend to be the bulk painful for folks The the greater part common analogy I hear is it is like being slapped with a rubber band The post Letting go of the past one tattoo at a time appeared first on MinnPost