The Calling

More than anything I feel like I just need to hear myself talk for a bit and express some things I've been bottling up inside. I'm not a truck driver, not even close to it. I know very little about it, and what little I do know I've learned only very recently. Trucking has never crossed my mind as a career path nor have I ever had the slightest interest in it. Previously, a truck to me was nothing but a lump on the highway to get around. But somehow, suddenly, I find myself drawn to trucking, almost like a calling. After lurking around for a bit on here and a few other places, I see that I'm not the only one. In fact it may not be uncommon at all for people to feel this sort of calling to trucking. The trick then, as I see it, is to figure out if it's just a whim, born of a love of the highway and a frustration with current life, or a genuine and realistic desire to pursue a trucking career. Or to put it another way, someone who feels this calling needs to understand that trucking ain't the same as RVing.

Ultimately I know trucking would probably never work for me. I'm in my upper 40's, a family man (teenage kids), and I have a a 25 year old career. My career has some pros and cons, but the pros are quite remarkable. It's a very soft white collar job that sees me behind a desk most the time. Ultimately I don't work very hard. I also work autonomously - putting together research and presentation projects. I have reasonable deadlines to meet and work whatever hours I want (usually not more than 30 a week). I'm at liberty to take off whenever I like, sleep in whenever I like, or watch videos instead of working whenever I'm at my desk. Sometimes I feel ashamed when I realize how hard so many people have to work to make a buck. I'm practically retired compared to a lot of people. My income isn't making me rich, but it's a lot more than I deserve, and more than a lot of truckers make. The only downside is that I have no benefits.

I know, it sounds crazy to give up such an easy work life to go into trucking. I would be working many times as hard as I do now and, for the foreseeable future, be making less money. And I don't even know that I could handle it. But still, here I am, smitten with the idea of trucking, and I'm not completely sure why. I guess just bored with my job, and I am ashamed that I work so little. I feel this urge to do something tangible for society, like delivering goods to places, rather than the abstract research work I do. I also love the road and love to travel. I often feel best when I am on the highway. Ultimately, I guess I feel I have become stuck and stagnated in my job and I feel adrift in nothingness and routine, and there's not really another job I could transition to from this one. So now I keep thinking about trucking, reading about it, hanging out at truckstops, watching videos, driving by a trucking school...

Any thoughts here? Anyone make an abrupt, mid-age career change into trucking and glad they did it? Anyone regret it? I honestly would equally welcome encouragement or discouragement on this. Or maybe what I really need is counselling...

Thanks -