CANBY, Ore. — A young woman in Oregon is using a seemingly simple tattoo to get people talking about mental health issues.
After she was diagnosed with depression, Bekah Miles, 20, decided to get the phrase “I’m fine” tattooed on her thigh.
However, from a different angle, her tattoo sends a very different message.
From Miles’ perspective, the tattoo says, “Save me.”
Miles posted photos of the tattoo from each perspective to Facebook with an explanation of the meaning behind it.
She wrote:
“So today, I got this tattoo. I feel that my leg was the best place for the meaning behind it. When everyone else sees it, they see ‘I’m fine,’ but from my viewpoint, it reads ‘save me.’ To me, it means that others see this person that seems okay, but, in reality, is not okay at all. It reminds me that people who may appear happy, may be at battle with themselves.”
Miles explained that she got the tattoo in hopes that it would encourage other people to talk about their own experiences with mental illness.
“This forces me to talk about my own struggle, and why the awareness of it is important,” she wrotes. “You’d be surprised by how many people YOU know that struggle with depression, anxiety, or other mental illness. I may only be one person, but one can save another…and that’s all I could really ask for.”