I scored the job interview–the one vetting me as a candidate to work with kids who have autism–but I almost canceled it. The process looked intimidating: thirty minutes to read and respond to questions, followed by an in-person meeting with multiple hosts. And honestly, if driving were to be a big part of the job, I wasn’t sure I was up to that level of responsibility behind the wheel. I was also considering a lucrative role as a dog sitter and childcare provider for a couple of doctors, one that would leave me free to work on my online job during the day. Why put myself through a rigorous interview process and waste everyone’s time if I didn’t plan to take the job? I felt tired just thinking about it.

However, I decided to keep the appointment for several reasons. First, I had learned that being open to experience was often more rewarding than not. I knew I was vulnerable to narrow judgments that, should I hearken to them, could result in missed opportunities. Second, plain old inertia had me considering action soon before the interview, and I thought it would be bad form to cancel so late. Besides all that, I was a second-stringer in the doctors’ home position, waiting on whether the young candidate they were currently trying out would sink or swim–and that was a job where I’d be regularly ferrying the professionals’ precious cargo to and from school. So, I opted to pursue opportunity by getting my car professionally cleaned (a small drama in itself) and following through on the invitation to talk further about the autism position.