tattoo for personal loss

Looking for ideas of a back tattoo to symbolize loss. thought about a big koi swimming up and a smaller one swimming down. But also looking for any symbols that mean loss to incorporate.

Koi fish have no significance in representing loss....Koi swimming up stream represents perserverance (sp?)/overcoming. Koi swimming down stream reprsents luck. I think I can see where you were wanting to go with your idea but it would have the wrong signal to it. Unless you want to have something representing overcoming of loss, then the Koi swimming up stream/river would work. It all depends on the magnitude of your loss. It really is kind of an indefinite thing from person to person. We could give you all the suggestions we can come up with but the more in detailed you are these easier it is for us to get the wheels turning.....J

How about….an empty jar that signifies the emptiness that walking away from your one true love and realizing that you will never love or be loved the way you were and that any love you will ever experience will be but a shadow in comparison to what you gave up…….or whatever your loss is….

i think my koi fish idea was more representing me trying to get over it. i have heard the koi swimming upward means you won the battle, and swimming downward was still battling. unsure if this is correct, but was just looking for ideas and meanings like this. I know it is subjective and everyone is different but just looking for a cool idea with some meaning. I lost my dad about two years ago and want to get some feelings out in a tattoo.

Did you have any particular theme, ie, oriental? Different cultures have different ways of expressing feelings/ emotion. Was there anything that you and your father enjoyed doing together, a past-time, memory, etc?

..... Not that I am saying that the Koi idea wouldn't work, of course....