Anxiety behind the wheel

Its been my experience that the open road is a good antidote for anxiety. And for the times your anxious you do like the previous poster said and just ignore the negative thoughts and after awhile your back to your old self intill the next time and just rinse and repeat. Cut back on caffeine a little as well.

 

Wouldn't it help if he said what the anxiety was about. As a new driver you just take one day at a time. The more you know about trucking the less anxious you are. Is it trip planning or finding place to park at night. Is it driving heavy traffic. Driving in snow or something

I remember my first run solo I was ready to quit because my trainer really did not show me the important stuff I needed to know. Their are solutions I know. Do people know it's safer and less pressure driving if you just go slower then the traffic around you. It might sound simple, but the reason it works is because traffic will flow around your truck. That means you have less interactions with them. That make the drive more safe for you and less stressful.

You can put Rain X on all the windows and mirrors. You can actually drive in the rain without wipers and still see perfectly out the windshield

 

Since 2007 we eliminated VA mental health and we eliminated mental health visits to any doctor. IF we used (And did from time to time) valium off label it's for muscles at night when you are not really functioning in work or public anyway. That got stopped by the state last year.

Its really dangerous today to go to a doctor with a basic boo hoo that can be solved by a good road trip somewhere nice. If you do not break the cycle and change the situation etc. And keep going back to doc, next thing you know you are being treated with a 10 foot pole as a mental person. Not in a BAD way but treated differently in small ways when they look up recent records on you.

Find the problem. Resolve the problem and then FORGET About it. Tomorrow is a new day. Do not let the sun go down with that anxiety on your back. You arent going to be right come morning.

When in a life situation regarding money, fix it problem or anything really up to and particularly loss and death I tend to get tough and roll on fixing what is fixable and let the rest go. Its not my problem. I'll do what I can and dump the rest. If they want to yell at me about it? They can save it and be more helpful by suggesting what I can do to help them when they want to yell.

Anxiety? HA. Its normal to be a little bit off when learning new things for the first time. Or perhaps having been left in the lurch by your dispatcher with your job on the line come morning etc. Or something else. Fix it and go on with your life. Wherever you go there you are. I hope you really like yourself. That solves alot of trouble.

I happen to undestand that I am somewhat damaged than the rest of society. When they are sniveling about that icing and blizzards two inches high in whyoming (Thanks Dave...) I get rolling. I need that stress to do a good job on it. And it will go through even though the rig will do a little dancing on it. Its what I am.

If I had a pretty day on the beach, I would be first to abandon the rig and lay on the sand. Ive done that a time or two in our Ocean City. What a day. A wonderful day. What stress what anxiety? HA... not today.

 

Anxiety is the body's reaction to stress. Fight or flight.

It's biological and it's not caused by your thoughts or the individual specifics of your present circumstances.

All your body knows is it is experiencing and reacting to stress. So pretty much anything that reduces stress generally will lessen (not eliminate) your anxiety.

I believe understanding and accepting what is actually.happening with your biology in the.moment goes a long way. All humans experience stress. I have found that a regular practice of deep breathing techniques has enabled me to handle.stress more effectively. Google "Wim Hof breathing" for more info. Also cold showers can be helpful believe it or not.

 

The thoughts don't cause the anxiety though. The thoughts arise from the body's biological response to stress, so it may seem that the anxiety comes from the thoughts, but this is wrong. I know because I have taught myself to breathe deeply and change my biology in the moment and guess what? The thoughts go away.

Ignoring what is happening is harmful because when we refuse to accept what is happening, this causes repression, and repression is always psychologically harmful to the individual. Anything other than accepting what is going on with our biology and our thoughts will be harmful in the long run. I speak all of this from experience.

Just because some individuals have a high capacity for dissociation (refusing to or being unable to experience what is actually happening), doesn't make this a healthy strategy.

If everyone could deal effectively with stress by ignoring thoughts, there wouldn't be so many people on meds for anxiety.

I used to get racing thoughts right before bed. Now I don't because of my exercises with breathing. When I first wake up I often have racing thoughts, then after the breathing exercises the racing thoughts go away. The thoughts are not the cause of the anxiety. It's the other way around.

 

Disassociation happens to be a dangerous situation actually.

Let's say Earl has the rig going downgrade on mount vertical and there is a big smashup at the bottom with EMT and police all over. His brakes are gone for whatever reason yet to be determined.

What is Earl to do?

Hes going to be worried, stressed, scared and a range of bowling balls across his gut and all sorts of human body reaction. But as long as Earl bites down on his pipe and makes a decision to commit the rig anywhere but the wreck and first responders whatever happens so be it.

The old insurance joke happens when Earl turns to brother jon in the sleeper and says you need to wake up.

Why?

Because we are about to get to somewhere that has alot of problems.

The idea that someone has bigger problems than you do personally sometimes reduces whatever problems that are causing you distress to something you can work with.

 

It is very true , at least for me , that when I’m having a hard time for whatever reason, I think about other people having much worse than me and that helps me
To realize that any hurdle in my life is just passing by and all I need to do is the best I can to resolve it , that is it!

 

Two best comments in my opinion. I would add just one thing. Make dead certain YOU inform this physician YOU are a professional driver. Regardless of what a physician might prescribe, make sure a DOT medical Examiner will approve it!