My official, official first introductory blog post.

Hello again. My pen-name is chiisana, pronounced chee-sah-na. It’s nice to meet you.

Eons ago, I wrote an About Me page as well as a “First Blog Post” that WordPress forced me to write, but I never had a more informal (read: fun) page about what this blog is all about. Or why I chose the blog title to begin with.

Let’s start with the blog title.

A few years ago, before I began grad school, younger chiisana became obsessed with eating chips. I’ve loved the snack ever since I was a child, enjoying its sharp, salty flavor and cathartic crunchiness and unfailingly eyeing the snack aisles in grocery store runs for my favorite Flamin’ Hot Cheeto puffcorns. My “love” for chips intensified when I was going through some Hard Times during my gap years. I was coping then in the best way I knew how: by pouring my money into whatever my heart desired on a whim, which, of course, included chips. I ate a lot of chips, about 2-3x a week, and I was surrounded by people who liked them too! My dangerous habit got to the point where I experienced near-fainting spells one day at work and excruciating gas and pain in my GI tract, rendering me unfit to finish my shift. The subsequent doctor’s visit turned up with inconclusive results, but needless to say, I had to stop eating chips for several months after that. Farewell, my Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. :’-(

Fast forward to current grad-school chiisana. This girl is calmer now — well, about as calm as a grad school student can be, at least. I now eat chips about 1-2x a month, so I have definitely tapered down since I don’t crave them as much as I used to. This is because I’ve taken steps to reduce my stress, developed healthier outlets, and in turn, learned to take a more holistic, constructive approach for finding success and happiness in life. For better or worse, indulgence will always be a part of my lifestyle, so I make it a personal mission to learn about sustainable, healthy ways to indulge myself (i.e. better self-care). Writing in this blog has become one of those practices (my new and improved “chips,” so to speak!), and I plan to use chips for chiisana as a way to share all the things I wish I could tell little chiisana: things about self-care, self-improvement, and ultimately self-love, the best kinds of chips. Because before you can be your best self to others, you have to be the best to yourself.

Would you like to enjoy some chips with me?