"The Impulsive Adventurer" (current working title - work in progress)

One impulsive decision changed her life forever...

Authors note: This is my first novel (short story?) Not really sure where it’s going yet but your feedback is greatly appreciated! As of 2/11/25, I have four chapters written. Paid subscriptions will keep the story going… thank you!
UPDATE: I’ve since learned this is called “serializing” the story. You know, like you watch a TV series - you subscribe to a streaming service and get the next chapter each episode. That’s the same thing I’m doing here, releasing chapters to paid subscribers as episodes that make up the overall story.
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The Impulsive Adventurer
"One impulsive decision changed her life forever…”

Chapter 1
It was an impulsive decision. One that she couldn't undo. No, her personality wouldn't allow her to do that. Of course, there's always choices in life. And, of course, once you make a choice you can evaluate it and then make a different choice or, stay on course with the choice you made.
In this case, her personality wouldn't let her evaluate OR change course. She had that "dig your heels" in type of personality. That kind where people say, "Oh, she's incredibly loyal." The kind where people admire her for making big, brave and bold life choices. That kind of personality that forbid her to change her mind, or make different choices or even, really take the time to weigh pros and cons before making a decision.
Some people call it "neuro-spicy", others call it attention deficit disorder or maybe even some form of autism that's on the spectrum. Those are all valid labels, and she supposes that it helps people understand why people act the way they do or make the choices they make.

In this case maybe the impulsivity was from a neurodivergent thought process but without a professional, medical diagnosis she can't really say for sure that this is the reason why she made that impulsive decision. So, in lieu of using that as a reason, she just decided that the impulsive decision was a result of one thing, a mid-life crisis type of situation. Well, maybe not "crisis" per se, but definitely a need for something different.

Once you hit a certain age, you just decide that some things don't matter anymore. Things like people-pleasing and doing work you hate just to get a paycheck and forbidding yourself to eat foods you love because they aren't "healthy". I don’t know exactly what that age is but for most women, it seems, that age is in the late 40's? For her, that age is early 50's because it's taken some time to work on some mindset shift stuff and get to the point where she could be "OK" with a total lifestyle change.

So maybe this decision wasn't so impulsive anyway? Maybe there's some truth that your subconscious is constantly running in the background of your brain - you know, like when you leave apps open on your phone? Constantly processing information, sorting through it and then pushes those thoughts and decisions to your conscience mind?

Regardless of how she came to make that impulsive decision that day, the decision has been made. She had already verbally agreed and to her, that's as good as signing your name in blood on stone tablets. Her personality - you know, the one she's tried so hard to tamper down a bit over the last year or so - just will not let her change her mind and back out of a verbal agreement.

That part of her personality still has a stronghold on her. It's that one part she just can't seem to shake, that people-pleasing part. Yeah, she just cannot stand for people to be mad or disappointed in her.
And that is why she cannot turn back from the impulsive decision. That is why, she has to just keep moving forward with the aftermath of the decision.

Chapter 2 PREVIEW
It started with a postcard…