Another Day in Paradise

(Note: I wrote this piece a week ago but it's been a burden getting up here for technical reasons. Since I wrote this piece, I've had a bit of a relapse with my health - nothing major to worry about - I just have to clean myself out with a Dr. imposed fast and some antibiotics. Gut problems are a bitch...)

I know, I know, it says "weekly blog" and I really am trying my damnedest to crank these things out but it's always something. I skipped last week's communique because I was laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to oxygen and intravenous drugs and such. Long story short, I've put a lot of miles on my 34 year old body and it's starting to behave as though I'm 50. I'll turn it around. I have no choice. I'm the sole provider for my family and I want to be around to watch everybody grow up. Medical bills are a bitch for most Tattoo Artists. We generally have no insurance plans and if you're smart and set up a medical savings account, there's always some furnace or car blowing up that will drain that account and leave you holding the bag as it were. I'm not complaining. Far from it. My freedom is worth every bit of the struggle. I've worked factories and warehouses and construction and restaurants and sales and every other kind of job you can imagine and not a single one of them have allowed me to meet and befriend the kind of people that tattooing and writing have brought into my life. I love the relationships I've forged in this business, the roads I've travelled for this business and the time I've spent trying to constantly give back to this business. So what if I have a lot of bills now? I'll double the workload and turn out some amazing work not because I feel like it but because I have to. You know the old saying about life handing you lemons right? Rev. Wells is busy making a lot of lemonade.

So it goes. I'll be eating like an old man for the rest of my life, trying to find healthy options while I'm on the road or when I've got a long day at the office and no time to cook but it's all worth it. I've lost 40 pounds since I ended up in the hospital. The discipline alone is worth it. My entire career has been built on discipline. Following my path and shooting for my goal no matter what roadblocks stood in my way and no matter how much my mind tells me, "It's okay. Take a day off. You deserve it. You've been tattooing all day and writing all night, designing t-shirts and album covers, compiling music CD's and books, writing blogs and newsletters, updating websites and drawing the week's tattoo assignments... You can rest for one day." The discipline to continue and to complete the tasks at hand have built my business and my relationships and I honor any new discipline that comes my way. So you may run into me at a convention or out and about and I'll be tired and I'll be hungry but I'll be jazzed to be at these great shows and I'll be jazzed to meet you. I'll be high on life and buzzing from my new healthy diet that's fueling me cleaner and more efficiently than my pizza and Pepsi diet of the past. I'll be working my ass off tattooing and taking pictures and meeting new people and hanging with old friends. I'll be running back to my room every few hours to see my wife and daughter and when I get home and I decide it's time for a nice break from it all, I'll tell myself that there's time to sleep when I'm dead and I'll start it all over again.

Rev. Chad Wells
http://www.wellstattoo.com