Has Trucking Changed You?

Steve Quayle warns about this all the time.

 

OTR has change alot of ppl from skinny and average size to fat. Weird hours and no exercise along with burgers everyday will have a normal person in bad health in no time.

 

Quite honestly, trucking has changed me for the better. I had demons(drugs, mainly marijuana) that I couldn't shake completely til 2012. I even flunked a random early on in my time trucking. A little growth, maturity, and a long hard road (no pun intended) got me back right. Getting a 2nd chance out here to wake up and smell the diesel saved my life honestly. I flunked that random and it took 8 years of working dead end jobs and crappy companies to get back right. When you dig a deep hole, it's hard to get out of. It's a lifestyle that I like so much better than my old one. I like traveling all over the USA, meeting cool people, drinking beer with other truckers, eating good food, and making good steady money. Trucking helped me prioritize better, manage time better(on and off the road). I've got lessons that I've learned over the years that helps me as a father. My life is straight and I run every load like I'm still running from those demons, and I've been clean 9 years now. I take so much more pride in life and in trucking because I don't want to go backwards. I take pride in my ride too. Even though it's a company truck, it's something about a clean truck that gives me a rush. I feel empowered as trucker when my ride is clean. To me, when a driver has a clean truck, it shows growth and maturity as a trucker, as a man. It shows that he knows what he's doing. Now all of my habits on the road translate to my home life.

 

You're awesome. Plenty of drivers could improve with your outlook no matter what demon or delusion they suffer with. Props....

 

I miss all the audio books I'd listen to, been oil field now for 4 years and it's always getting and out of the truck to hook and disconnect, load and unload 4-6 times a night,
I miss those loads that took a few days to do, even miss the down time waiting till Monday to deliver, I would get angry at first but then just settle down into a book.
I'm sick of the oil field, money is good and I'm afraid of climbing out of my hole here in the basin, but I'm starting to wonder if it would be good for me, despite my paycheck, everything I own seems to be falling apart simultaneously and I want to burn it all

 

Awesome story!