Upon leaving New York City to come back to Alabama, my mom and I took a cab, and for the first time I noted the significance of being driven around the city by a stranger. Our driver was from a village in Guinea, and when we caught him at 9 in the morning, he had already been working since 8:30 the night before. He didn't get off for two more hours. And for the 30 minutes I knew him from Manhattan through Queens to LaGuardia Airport, he turned out to be exactly what I needed. And he taught me a lot in that time.

1. You have to work hard to be who you want to be.

The difference in Manhattan and Guinea, or even Manhattan and Alabama, is a large one. But the rules are the same. You get what you give, and you just do your best. The easy life will more than likely not be handed to you in an easy way. You have to earn the life you think you deserve, even if that means enduring the heaviest blow life has to offer.

2. All life is the same from person to person.

My mom has a terrible case of Southern hospitality and must talk to our drivers wherever we go, and so sometimes they talk back, and other items they shut her down. She really tries her best to make me as uncomfortable as possible, but I’m thankful for the way she approaches others—mostly through jokes that are mostly about how different our small town is from Manhattan. But we learn about others that way—whether talking about how much money P. Diddy makes in an hour or about fishing in a nearby river, we uncover truths we didn’t know existed.

4. The world is much larger and still much smaller than you think.

No, a cab driver is most likely not your ideal career move. But it’s good enough for someone, and when times get hard, you make decisions to turn situations around, not to please yourself.

6. Opportunity waits.

Thomas Edison once spoke about how opportunity is frequently passed up because it looks like hard work, but the thing about opportunity is that it will always be there. There is a need somewhere for every person, and the work you’ve done to get wherever you are will not go unnoticed.

7. Money is not what life is all about.

So, yeah, P. Diddy’s net worth is $735 million, and he will live in pure luxury for the rest of his life, but making a lot of money is not the main event of life. After all, you can’t take those riches with you. Comfort and excess are not the same thing, and they have very different definitions depending on who you ask.

8. Common ground is a safe place to stand.

You can do anything when you can relate to someone, especially if you go out of your way to prove your interest. While I don't particularly enjoy fishing, I know about it, and our driver loved fishing in his village in Guinea, and even our very little knowledge helped bridge a divide of nations. Common ground is how all relationships are built, upon what all trust falls. And it’s nice to be there between two worlds, trying to learn a little bit more about the earth I inhabit.

9. Sometimes you’re not as lucky as those around you.

You’re not going to be fortunate all the time—you can’t be. Life will knock you down, and you will watch so many others pass you, and you’ll do your best and wonder how life discriminates betweens those it elevates and those it tells to wait.

10. But whatever you’re going through will pay off.

Soon it will be your turn. And you will be glad you waited, and you will find relief in some form, and you will have your day. You will be celebrated, and you will look back and wonder why you thought you could never do all you did because you did it, and you are grateful.

11. Humility is a blessed trait to have.

When you do succeed—and you will succeed—remember the times when you thought you couldn’t. Remember that you are fragile and temporary. Say thank you. Offer and receive help as it is necessary. And just do your best.