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Regret. It's a common emotion shared by people about their first tattoo. Not because they made the difficult decision to get one done in the first place, but because they got the wrong one. Ask anyone with a tattoo and they probably will tell you if they had to do it all over again, they would have taken the time to choose the right design.

The most common mistake first-timers make is selecting a tattoo design in haste and with little or no thought. It may have rocked their world when they saw it on the wall or in a book at the tattoo parlor, but once it was a permanent fixture on their body, it was obvious it didn't quite fit, but then it's a quarter past way-too-late. You can avoid this situation if you keep the following thoughts in mind before you go past the point of no return.

1. You are not getting just a tattoo - you are placing an image on your body that will remain with you for the rest of your life, and beyond, for that matter.

Ironically, we can put more thought into buying a pair of boots or a t-shirt than we do in choosing a tattoo design. A trip to the Goodwill to drop off a bag of bad clothing choices is an easy remedy. If there were only a thrift store to discard bad tattoo designs - the line would wind around the corner and down the block. A red rose on your left shoulder might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but is that the all-encompassing life statement you were searching for to define the complex, super-cool, righteously-down person that you know you are? Probably not. But just getting yourself to the tattoo parlor in the first place seems to take over the whole process. Once you're in, any old tattoo will do. You think, "Hey, I had the balls to walk through the door of this scary, wrong-side-of-the-tracks establishment." What happens after is usually a blur. Choose your design before you make the trip.

2. Who are you? What are you trying to say about yourself to the rest of the world?

Are you at a crossroads in your life? Did you just have child, suffer a death of a loved one or have you made a self-discovery about what is really important to you?

Choosing a tattoo design to commemorate a milestone, a moment of self-awareness, or the love of a pet, is never a bad idea. If it is important now, it will be just as important later. A specific date; a recognizable symbol; a photographic picture of a significant person or animal are options you might consider. If you can think it - they can ink it.

3. Will you be getting other tattoos?

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