{"id":329,"date":"2025-11-12T01:36:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T01:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/?p=329"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:15:53","slug":"you-cant-go-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/you-cant-go-back\/","title":{"rendered":"28 – You Can\u2019t Go Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

The First Time I Thought of Myself as an Adult<\/h2>\n

During group therapy this week something someone shared brought up a memory I had not thought about in decades. I revisited this memory that shaped how I see myself even now. It was the first time I truly felt like an adult.<\/p>\n

I was stationed at my first duty station in Tennessee and volunteered at an elementary school. Most of the children were Black, and I was a young white lower-enlisted service member who still felt like a kid inside. I was used to people telling me what to do, not looking up to me.<\/p>\n

Walking into that classroom, I was nervous. I didn\u2019t know how they\u2019d respond or if I\u2019d even belong there. But the moment I arrived, the children welcomed me and called me \u201cSir.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, I laughed and told them that\u2019s what I called officers, not what people called me. But they told me they called me that because I had volunteered to serve my country\u2014and because I had chosen to be there with them helping them learn.<\/p>\n

That hit me hard. It was the first time I understood respect not as something tied to rank or position, but to purpose<\/a>. It was a moment that changed how I viewed myself and the life I was building.<\/p>\n

Reflection:<\/h3>\n
\"Handing
We treated the injured and stabilized them until the PJs from the MEDEVAC came to take them off the battle field.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You don\u2019t grow in comfort\u2014you grow in chaos.<\/p>\n

That truth has followed me through every stage of my military career and far beyond it. The challenges, the uncertainty, the moments where I doubted who I was\u2014all of it forced me to evolve.<\/p>\n

Group therapy reminded me that growth doesn\u2019t come from having control. It comes from facing the storms that strip away who you thought you were, revealing who you\u2019re becoming.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t go back. But we can honor where we\u2019ve been, and keep growing from the chaos that brought us here. \u00a0This is why I will continue to serve and honor my brothers in arms and first responders with my art therapy<\/a> and tattooing.<\/p>\n

Artist Hour: \u201cHidden Strength\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tiger
The tiger behind the palms is symbolic of finding your strength while still being hidden, uncertain, or \u201cnot yet seen\u201d for who you\u2019re becoming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today\u2019s artwork features a tiger\u2019s head obscured by palm leaves, with a single tropical flower in the corner for balance. The tiger represents courage and purpose<\/a>\u2014often concealed, waiting for the right moment to emerge. The flower reminds us that even in the wildest environments, growth and beauty still find a way through.<\/p>\n

Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served honorably and to those that continue to serve. \u00a0Happy birthday to all my Marine brothers, y\u2019all make 250 look good!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These are reflections from the lead artist at Honor and Ink\u2122 as he continues to process and grow. \u00a0We hope you can relate to this, and if you would like to explore tattoos or art as a form of therapy, please contact us on our website Honor and Ink.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The First Time I Thought of Myself as an Adult During group therapy this week something someone shared brought up a memory I had not thought about in decades. I revisited this memory that shaped how I see myself even now. It was the first time I truly felt like an adult. I was stationed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,8,9,26],"tags":[19,16,20,13,15,25],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-therapy","category-learning","category-motivational","category-reflection","tag-art-motivation","tag-artist-hour","tag-creative-growth","tag-tattoo-artist-journey","tag-tattooing-101","tag-trusting-the-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}