I have a nasty habit. When I'm having a really bad day, I tend to punch holes in my body.
Throughout my life, I've had some 50 piercings, more than half of which I've kept long-term. I find the pain, both from the initial piercing, and from the healing process, to be rather cathartic. In fact, I'm now to the point of, more or less, keeping track of my age in piercings - I am currently behind my 28 years by 3 piercings because 2, in a configuration of 10, rejected, and I haven't gotten around to having them redone, and haven't gotten around to adding the last one yet. Goal for before winter; I'm thinking within a couple of weeks, I will go to my piercer on her "$20/piercing" day to have them fixed, since the star around my belly looks bizarre with 2 missing.
I also have a nasty habit of doing some of them myself. I know what you are probably thinking; it's horrible, dangerous, and shouldn't be done, but frankly, I was trained to do gun piercings at one point, and how those are done is far far less sanitary and more dangerous then anything I've ever done to myself, which are done with proper tools, sterilization, etc. Besides which, I only do "safe" piercings myself; fleshy-type piercings that are difficult to do major damage with, such as ear lobes, and, previously, belly button. Having control over the speed at which it's done, not to mention learning about how difficult they can be to actually do, is kind of awesome. I would not, however, try anything that could do damage, such as tongue, nipples, cartilage, etc.
I got my first set of piercings when I was 10. Lobe piercings with a gun. I got my second set some 4 years later, when my mom did them the way she had hers done as a kid; clean sewing needle, ice, and a lot of discomfort. On my 18th birthday, my step-dad took me to the place he got his one-and-only tattoo, and I got my first body piercing; a symbolic lip ring. (very brief background; one of my favorite book series, The Sword of Truth, had this totally evil bad guy, and he kept slaves. He marked their (sexual; remember, he's totally evil)) slavehood with lip piercings, and marked their rank by using different metals; copper and bronze for the women sent to the army's tents, silver for the women given to officers, and finally, gold for his personal slaves. After my piercing healed, I used a clear acrylic ring to signify that I belong to no-one, and that my life is of untold value.)
Since that first non-lobe piercing, the urge has been insatiable. It's a wonder I don't look like a circus side-show, but roughly half of my piercings can't be seen, normally. As mentioned, 10 of them (excepting the two needing to be re-done) are tied up in my belly region, and another 2 are never exposed, and I've managed to restrain myself enough to have only 3 piercings on the face. Most of the remainder are in the ears.
As a coping strategy, for me, it seems to work fairly well to keep my wild mind more or less grounded. Having nearly-daily headaches, and having had them since I was about 13 or so, I'm rather accustomed to pain, but the quality of pain is different. There is something immensely satisfying, for me, about having a souvenir of my pain. Especially the prolonged pain of the healing process, which, upon every jostle of the jewelry, ignites anew. Tangible evidence of suffering, because headaches cannot be seen by the outside observer. I've been told by several people that I function well enough, and complain infrequently enough, that they simply don't believe me that I'm suffering. Having your experience discounted simply because you've learned to cope with it, and there are no visible symptoms, is really deflating.
Tattoos just don't do it for me; the prolonged pain at the time of getting it does almost nothing, and the healing time is so quick and painless that, besides the ink, I really don't care for them all that much, and then you have a much harder time hiding them, if necessary.
I am a huge fan of stomping all over people's expectations; I'm full of metal, dye my hair blue and purple - whole head, mind - and often can't be bothered to wear real pants, preferring the comfort of sweatpants, regardless how it looks to others. At the same time, I voraciously consume information, challenge myself intellectually, and prefer to live at a slow pace, enjoying peace and quiet, alone time, and the company of only a handful of people. As my anxiety counselor said; "You may have blue hair, and you certainly do, and you may have a lot of piercings, but you present yourself well, you are well-spoken, and when needed, you always look entirely put-together."
I am certainly not the first person to have done this, but most people really haven't encountered others of the like, and I so strongly believe against judging on appearance that, well, I do what I can to show people without that experience that we modified people are still people, with a whole range of personalities, interests, and skills. My first-encounters with my science professors are always fun, because science is my greatest passion. I love absolutely everything about science, and have enough knowledge to have a fairly informed conversation about nearly any topic, as long as it doesn't go too deeply into terminology. This is especially pronounced when a conversation has been had via e-mail, prior to face-to-face encounters. I find it highly amusing. The facial expression of "That was you...?" is priceless.
If you are like me, and tend to get pierced on a whim, have a plan in mind for your next excursion; decide on the piercing you want ahead of time, and simply wait to get it done until you feel the urge. This will give you plenty of time to make sure the piercing is right for you, and will give you more then enough time to make sure the piercer you've chosen is a good one. I already know the next 6 I want, I have a piercer I trust, and I have researched the possible problems with each, so if anything goes wrong, I will be prepared. Make sure you account for any activities you might be doing while the piercings are healing, and remember that each has a different healing time. Going to the beach with a 2-week-old belly ring is a horrible idea, and will likely lead to infection. Working a full shift in which you constantly move, after getting your nipples pierced, is a horrible idea because the movement and rubbing will cause the piercings to bleed for hours, and may shift the jewelry enough to cause long-term problems. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong.
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