Question: How long do you sit with the idea of a tattoo before actually getting it?

I'm curious how other people approach this, especially as they get older or more experienced with tattoos.

I started getting tattooed when I was 17. You know, basically a teenager with zero self-control. I got some really dumb tattoos back then (nothing huge, luckily) but definitely choices made on impulse because I thought they were "cool" at the time. Fast forward 8 years, and now I'm working with a tattoo artist to cover them up. Thankfully they were small and easy to hide, and the artist has really good ideas.

These days, my process is totally different. When I get an idea, I sit with it for a few weeks. If I still like it after that, I start looking for similar tattoos to get a better sense of style or placement. Then I draw an absolutely terrible sketch (I’m not an artist and my tattooer knows that, lol), and we go from there. He’s great at asking the right questions and turning a rough concept into something that I can't stop staring once it's on my skin.

So I’m wondering, how do you decide when you’re ready to get a new tattoo? Do you sit with the idea for a while? Or are you more spontaneous?