Truck driving career is essential for every industry you can think of, from food industry to automotive industry. It’s a great opportunity to travel while making money. Enrolling into the truck driving career is a way to see the US beautiful countryside and cities.
As any other job it has its positive as well as negative sides. Being on the road for several weeks in a row and dealing with loneliness can be difficult for some, but adventurous for others.
It does however require to have a lifestyle that would focus a lot around the job.
New technology makes everything much easier today. There are those who want to choose the truck driving career but are having a hard time dealing being away from their loved ones. Luckily, the messaging and phone calls can prevent homesickness.
This job requires you to be away from home for a longer period of time. However, you will get equally enough time for rest and spend quality time with family and friends. This so called “hometime” can be used to reintegrate into the family and the social life.
Knowing what exactly to expect from a truck driving career can help you to adapt better, faster and easier. More importantly, to overcome the emotional, mental and physical difficulties that can come with it.
Once you get a little bit of experience you will find every obstacle a challenge and every road trip an adventure.
Truck Driving Career Requires A Lot Of Sacrifice
How to be sure if the truck driving career is suitable for you?
For many, truck driving career is a dream job, but it does come with much sacrifice.
So, are you willing to make sacrifices in order to be a good driver?
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Being away from the family for days or even weeks is one of the biggest sacrifice you will need to make as a trucker. Moreover, it can easily impact your focus and mood if you are overly nostalgic and emotional.
Further, you will have to deal with not attending important family events sometimes and you will need to know how to cope with that. Not being home for the holidays or driving in a bad weather conditions are one of them.
In general, patience is key for truck drivers especially if you are a truck driver dealing with obstacles. For example, the rush hour traffic, problems on the road or weather conditions that do not allow you to get on time to deliver.
Another problem can be a hazardous load that you have to be extra careful with. These are few of the many situations that you can encounter if you decide to pursue a truck driving career.
If you are considering a truck driving career you need to balance and organize your time well. Correspondingly, you need to be able to deal with irregular sleeping hours as well as poor quality food at times. Looking on the positive side, you will learn how to manage your sleeping cycle and where to find a quality food.
You have to be self motivated and conscious regarding your own health, especially because of the long driving hours. Seat cushions are one thing that will help you through the long hours in the truck, as well as some exercising gear to use on the way.
As a truck driver, you have to also be careful on the highways . Knowing that you might fall asleep on a highway can be very dangerous, so organizing your time is key. Managing the sleeping cycle might be a challenge at the beginning but eventually you will know what works the best for you.
First Year as a Truck Driver is the Hardest
Once you make a choice that the truck driving career is for you, you will need to pass your CDL (commercial driver’s license) test. To emphasize, you need the test in order to qualify for the job. The CDL takes approximately one month to complete.
Once you complete your CDL you’ll be ready to start the first year as a truck driver.
Commonly it is considered to be the hardest one since it’s the year of adaptation. Dealing with new sacrifices can be very stressful, getting used to the lifestyle, overcoming the loneliness of the roads, irregular sleeping hours etc.
Finding balance between family and social life together with a job that requires a lot of dedication is not that easy. However, is not impossible. If you are really passionate about it, you will find it exciting and adventurous.
Continually, you need to maintain the positive attitude even in difficult situations, and for that you need to train your mental strength. Only a person with a strong mind can be a good over the road driver.
But of course, not only a strong mind makes a good driver, it’s a combination of several things and the physical health is one of them. Taking care of your body will help you endure the difficult situations you will encounter during the long hours driving along the highways.
Another important thing to remember on your first year is to be flexible since the transportation industry isn’t really predictable. Issues with the loads aren’t uncommon as well as problems with the roads or human mistakes such as receiving a wrong information.
You need to be able to keep a cool mind and stay focused and positive.
Working hours are also very long, most commonly around 70 hours in an eight day period and 34 hours hometime but they can also vary depending on your employer.
Requires learning new thing all the time
Working as an owner operator it’s very important to know few things that would make your business grow and will help you save money.
For example, you’ll have to constantly searching for cheaper places to fill your tank with fuel. Further, learning which fuel stations have the best fuel prices, as well as quality of fuel, which is important for the environment. But also the quality of your working days can get better knowing where you can find cheap and healthy food.
