Story Behind 20-Year-Old’s Meaningful Tattoo

Bekah Miles’s photo of her tattoo, which symbolizes her battle with depression, has gone viral. (Photo: Facebook/bekahbearrr)

“Mom and dad, please don’t kill me…” Those are the first lines of a young woman’s Facebook post that has now gone viral. In it, Bekah Miles, a 20-year-old from Oregon, shares a photo of her inspiring tattoo along with a raw and honest account of her struggle with depression.

Miles, a student at George Fox University, uploaded the photo of a new leg tattoo that, to a viewer looking straight on, reads “I’m fine.” But when Miles looks down at her leg, the design reads, “Save me.” She split-screened the two images and wrote:

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“(Dear mom and dad, please don’t kill me over this permanent choice. I want you to hear me out.) Today, I am coming out with something that only [a] few of you know. I am ready to have a conversation about my mental illness. Last year, I was diagnosed with depression. And in all honesty, I believe it was a problem for quite a while before that, but I think it just got worse to the point of hardly functioning.”

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She added, “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’s Facebook post detailing her battle with depression has struck a chord with people all over the world. (Photo: Facebook/bekahbearrr)

Miles went on to explain how her mental illness plays out in her life, writing, “Depression is the need to constantly be distracted (being on social media, playing video games, watching movies or shows, or working all the time) because I can’t trust myself with my thoughts for longer than 3 minutes.” She described friendships that have suffered from her “inability to function,” hurtful thoughts and actions toward herself, eating too much or too little, and a 50-pound weight in her chest.

Since uploading the post on Aug. 23, it has received almost 300,000 shares, more than 354,000 likes, and almost 33,000 comments. Facebook users from all over the world are calling Miles “brave” and “awesome,” and many have shared photos of their tattoos depicting their own experiences with mental illness.

Depression is a disease that affects an estimated 16 million Americans, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). And while it can affect people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic levels, per the nonprofit mental health organization, it hits women the most often — women are 70 percent more likely than men to experience it, and people ages 18 to 25 are more vulnerable than older folks.

“Sharing such news would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, however, this young woman is using social media in an incredibly powerful way,” Ken Duckworth, MD, a psychiatrist and medical director of NAMI, tells Yahoo Parenting.

Miles admits that the topic is difficult to discuss due to a fear of being vulnerable, but insists it’s an important one. “Mental illness is serious, but so shamed in our society,” she wrote. “We care so much for our physical health, but hardly a thing about our mental state. And that is seriously messed up. Mental illness is not a choice and will likely hit everyone at some point in their life. If it’s such a huge issue, why aren’t we having this conversation about it?”

Duckworth agrees. “In our society, we tend to split body and mind into two different categories,” he says. “Somehow it’s safer to talk about physical health than mental health. We’re making strides in cancer and heart disease, yet the suicide rate in America [often a result of depression] hasn’t improved in a decade.”

Calling her state of mind “hell,” Miles says her tattoo is a conversation starter and is self-healing in that it motivates her to share her pain. “People with depression often suffer in isolation, and by going public with her story, this woman is doing a service to many,” says Duckworth. “She’s a lightning rod for change.”

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