Finding Yourself

I didn't really find myself, but trucking helped me become myself again after tough times.

I was in a bad motorcycle accident and couldn't walk for nearly 3 years. I became depressed and pretty much a completely useless person during that time. After I was physically capable of working again I couldn't find a job for another year due to economy. We had 18% unemployment rate in my area when I was looking. That just stacked it on worse for me as before I was hurt I had always gotten a job the day I looked and I felt even more useless.

I'll be honest and say that I wasn't sure if I could physically or mentally handle a job like trucking anymore when I started. It pulled me out of my rut though and I got my work ethic right back. I don't feel depressed in the least bit and I'm back to my old self where many things don't phase me mentally anymore. It wears on me physically at times but that's just something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life.

I was looking at trucking before I ever got hurt so it wasn't an out of the blue thing for me. Plus, my dad has driven for 32 years so I'd been around it all my life.

 

What Zoltan1a said.

 

I hope so too. It was that way when I started -- in 1991 -- and it still seems to be that way. Hey, this is a great thread! Thank you.

 

I don't know if I have found myself but I swear I have passed myself running back and forth a time or two

 

I didn't realize that I lost myself. I've lost a lot of things and family members, been lost on a route though.

 

i gotta be half nuts, to keep running up and down the road in these semi trucks, i might have half a mind to slow it down for a time but ill never give it up. ill be semi crazy

 

I guess you could say that part of my interest in getting into the industry is finding myself. However, I've had an interest in the profession since high school (10 years ago now, wow). Also, I've been in retail grocery since I was 18, and while I don't fully hate it, I've gotten frustrated by the inability to support myself in that industry.

I've thought about going back to traditional college, but nothing really stands out as interesting. I have a firm belief that if I'm going to take out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, that I want to make darn sure I can pay those loans back (especially since student loans aren't absolved in bankruptcy). I've seen too many people fall into that hole, especially when I was living in Tennessee. Having lived with my parents again for 9 months now, I figure this: What do I have to lose? Is trucking a sure bet? Absolutely not. However, I feel that if I can crack down and study and practice hard, I have a better chance of making it. I also feel that because I'm not in a long-term relationship right now and don't have kids, that one of the biggest reasons for new truckers not making it in the industry is not an issue for me.

 

That's not an absolute. I know a guy that got his discharged 2 years ago.