Mentally Preparing for a New Piercing? Here's Our Tips!

A new piercing is something to be super excited about, but anxiety can sometimes get in the way! I have compiled a list of my best tips to help you through the process so you can get that new piercing and continue evolving your look 💫

Getting a new piercing can be scary, but it doesn't have to be! In order to have the best experience possible, follow these simple guidelines:

• Find a reputable piercer and be sure to check out their portfolio and client reviews! The more experienced your piercer, the smoother your piercing process will be. You can read more about finding a reputable piercer in this blog.
• Have the piercing you want planned out in advance, so you're not deciding at the last minute. This should help settle your nerves because you know where you will be getting the piercing and can plan ahead.
• Use the power of your imagination! Close your eyes and imagine walking into the piercing studio, sitting down, and breathing to calm your nerves. Then, when you feel ready, imagine the piercer piercing you- just a pinch and you're done! Imagine looking in the mirror and being so proud of yourself for going through with something hard, and seeing the beautiful result of your bravery! This works because your brain does not know the difference between a real and an imagined scenario, so by imagining the most successful and easy experience ever you are training your brain to remain calm, since it's been through the process like twenty times! You can repeat this whenever you want, and you can even use this little trick in many other areas of your life.
• Bring a friend along to the piercing studio with you! Having someone you love and trust close by or even holding your hand makes getting a piercing much easier.
• Master some breathing techniques to calm your nerves! If you pay attention, you can feel your heart beating in your chest. When you have anxiety your heartbeat will be fast! You can easily slow it down by breathing in, and breathing out one count longer than you are breathing in. Say the biggest breath you can manage is 3 seconds in- breathe out for 4 seconds. Then breathe in for 4 seconds- and out for 5 seconds. And so on until you reach about 10 or 11 seconds out. Your heart rate will have slowed and you should feel a nice sense of calm 😌 Practice this daily and use it whenever you find yourself having anxiety!

Just as there are things you should definitely do, there are a number of things you should not do:

• Don't watch videos online of other people getting the piercing. Most of the time people post their worst experiences for attention, or they act like it hurt way worse than it did- also for attention. Remember how your brain doesn't know the difference between a real and imagined scenario? When you imagine how wrong your piercing could go by looking at videos online your brain will run wild and conjure up all of the worst possible scenarios- which will give you even more anxiety!
• Don't ask other people how much the piercing hurt. Everyone's pain tolerance is vastly different, and you'll be much better off with no expectations on the pain scale. Judge the pain/lack of pain for yourself, and then you'll know going forward what exactly to expect!

These tips are tips that have been immensely useful to me in my every day life and also before getting pierced, so I hope that you enjoyed this read!

Until next time,

Kourtney @ Spirit Adornments 💕