YOU NEVER KNOW
You see, I have a problem. But don’t worry, I’ve accepted that I have a problem and self diagnosed myself.
I’ve diagnosed myself as a “highly functioning over thinker”.
From debating how much ice I want in my fountain drink for 10 minutes to worrying what my July 4th will look like in 2 years… I have a problem.
So you can understand now that the hardest part about this post is figuring out which story I tell first.
Luckily, my mind has taken it easy on me this time… what better way to start this off than with my first ever Uber passenger.
Welcome to the story of “you never know”.
I don’t know who said it first but I’m sure most of you have heard the saying “there’s two guarantees in life: death and taxes”. Well, I’m here to tell you that there is a third guarantee in life and that is: you just never know.
Go ahead and take 30 seconds.
Do you really know?
Do you really know what’s going to happen tomorrow?
Did you know covid 19 was going to shut down the world for 2+ years?
Do you know what’s going to happen next Thursday?
Probably not. And if you did, well then start gambling or helping all of us by sharing your insight on what is going to happen.
My first passenger taught me just this.
That I truly “never know.”
When I pulled out of my driveway and hit the “drive now” button on my uber app for the first time, I was terrified. I’ve always tried to avoid situations that consist of talking to strangers. I guess you can classify myself as that kid that “has a hard time at parties”. I’d much rather prefer to be alone in my car trying to break down the lyrics of the newest John Mayer song than to be asking a guy named Josh, “hey, what’s up…where are you from man?”. No offense to any Josh’s out there. I was and am your stereotypical introvert at times although at times I can appear to be extrovert. I know there is a name for this but alas you get my point.
I figured it was time to grow a little bit and go forward with something that made me as uncomfortable as uber driving, so I forced myself to at least do just one ride.
And when I tell you that I was only planning on giving one ride and if I didn’t like it, I would stop- I am dead serious.
So right off the bat, there are two “You never knows”.
First, I had no idea what I was getting myself into…at all.
Second, my first passenger had no idea that he was the determining factor as to if I continued my newly found part time job.
I pulled up to my passenger’s location and I kid you not, I was practicing how to say “how’s it going?”. As I’m finishing my fifth attempt and it sounded smooth enough right then he hopped in!
I luckily nailed the phrase “how’s it going”.
He answers with, “good.”
We were off.
If I remember correctly, it was about a 9 mile drive which was going to take us about 20 minutes.
So I guess the easiest way for me to do this is to break it down into the different “you never knows” of this ride.
1) you never know someone else’s story
and
2) you never know the impact you can have on someone else.
This passenger was remarkably able to share a massive amount of his life story in that 20 minute ride.
I want to give a quick rundown of some of our conversations even though it doesn’t do justice to how cool this was.
He has designed shoes/clothes for some major brands and now has even created his own line of shoes and clothing. One of his best friends is a famous rapper by the name of Tate Kobang, who’s big song called “Bank Rolls” just happened to be one of my favorite songs a couple of years ago.
These stories he was telling me about going on tour with Tate were really awe inspiring.
I mean name a rapper and this guy has probably met them or has at least been in the same room as them.
One of the coolest parts of the ride was when he played personal voice memos from Nicki Minaj where she told his friend how talented he was. Tate recently helped produce one of her new songs called “Fractions.”
Maybe to my readers above the age of 35, this sounds like just a bunch of random nonsense that you’ve never heard of and probably never will.
But to me, he was sharing stories about some of the most iconic musicians in the game.
This just left me thinking “wow”!
Secondly, to get a bit deeper with the “You never Know” theme.
Like I alluded to earlier without my passenger knowing, I put an unnecessary amount of pressure on this man.
Who knows what could have happened on that ride or who I could’ve picked up. I could’ve easily been miserable, uncomfortable, anxious the entire time.
But this guy got into my car, and from the second he sat down made an effort to get to know me, help me, and create an interaction to be remembered.
What he doesn’t know is that right when I dropped him off, I called my mom and dad and said the exact phrase “ you aren’t going to believe how unreal my first ride was, this is the greatest decision I’ve ever made!”
Now, I’ve probably made more meaningful/ great decisions in my life but give me a break- I was excited.
I had just met one of the most genuine/ unique people in my life when I was about to have a nervous breakdown, and this one Uber passenger was able to shift my entire mindset.
Now look.. Some things I say probably come off as dramatic. I talk so much about how this person changed me, my anxiety, etc, but the truth is that it’s just my truth. I don’t like overly dramatic things as much as the next guy, so believe me when I say that if there was another way to put it, then I would. That’s what happened, those are my emotions, those are the feelings that only I know.
And now you.
It should make you feel kind of good to see dramatic writing like that though because at the end of the day, any one of you could easily be the figurative “Uber passenger” for someone else in life.
You might never know that you are, but that doesn’t change the fact that you could be.
No, don’t go out and get in people’s faces trying to tell a cool story or getting to know them out of the blue. Just be mindful each day that you don’t know someone else’s story, you don’t know what they are dealing with, and understand that others don’t know about you either. Everyone aims to mature in life, I mean after all we are expected to. I’m starting to realize one of the biggest steps of maturity is accepting and living by the concept that “You just never Know.”
Thank you-
Dalton