I'm dealing with this right now - but I'm mostly on the other side of the freakout. I got my first tattoo last August, an almost-quarter-sleeve black and grey floral piece. I had wanted it for a very long time and had admired visibly-tattooed women for many, many years of my life, and I was SO excited to finally have some art of my own.

Two days after getting it I had the absolute worst panic attack of my life, thinking, "Why the fuck did I do this? Why is this on me? What am I going to do with this when I'm 30? 40? 70?!"

I have a history of mental health issues, so my case is probably extreme, but I basically became severely depressed and anxious and self-loathing. I ended up back in therapy for the first time in five years. I HATED myself for five solid months and could barely get out of bed in the morning. I was in a really, really dark place. All because of the fucking tattoo.

Five months later and I'm finally getting back to feeling like my normal self. Something that helped me was simply just spending time with my tattoo. It's winter where I am right now so I mostly have long sleeves on, but I started sleeping in short sleeve shirts so that I would see my tattoo every night before bed and every morning right when I woke up. I really just needed to get used to it being there while I did normal, everyday things - to remind myself that I can still live my normal life while having this tattoo.

I don't LOVE my tattoo yet (mine also wasn't extremely well done, even though the artist I chose does amazing work and I loved the stencil - the tattoo itself didn't come out that great), but I don't hate it anymore either, and it feels like a part of me now. I'm thinking about having it colored in by a different artist to try to help disguise some of the shittier shading that was done, to turn it into something I really do love.

All that's to say - hang in there. Give yourself some time. Try not to dwell on it, and just move on with your life. I know it's easier said than done.