Thinking about quitting...

Companies like FedEx, UPS hire from within as well. You gotta do a year or two in the warehouse.
You also might try the local teamsters. ABF & YELLOW take new guys at times.

Good luck.

I'd make sure I had a job before you quit.

 

My best advice to you is formulate a plan, and sounds like you have, now you have a couple of ways to get where you want to be.
Takes effort. Part of that effort is keeping your eye on where you want to be throughout the adversity. Do that, and you'll get there.
Don't start going from job to job. It's the same BS when you're new, different name on the door.
You work nights. Look up the address of the local teamsters on the web, go down and introduce yourself.
Go down to the ABF terminal and introduce yourself.
Be very humble.

 

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

 

Trucking is a 24/7 occupation. When your sleeping or off you can bet your ### theres guys out there plugging away.
I went through the same thing six months ago and i can tell you its fairly rough the first few weeks but your body will adjust its rythms after that. Once that happened i learned to prefer nights.
Weekends i just shift back six hours. Go to bed at noon and wake up usually close to midnight.
Sofar as a social life you might as well get used to it, truckers dont have social lives.

 

Believe me, I feel your pain. I've repeated this story several times before, but I left a cushy 7:00 am start at FedEx Freight after 18 years for a night shift, and I was in my 40's. I struggled with the "lonely" feeling, and I was married with kids at the time, and have plenty of friends. I also struggled with, and continue to have a hard time with the sleep issue. It's no joke. It requires strict discipline, much more than those who still bask in the sunlight. That's my weakness, partially due to a brain that doesn't want to shut off so I can sleep.

So give it a little more time, but follow due diligence. Do what you have to to sleep during the day, but be willing to try any variety of things to stay awake at night. Keep plenty with you to drink, have snacks available that you can munch on, take as many breaks as they will allow (and use them to nap!), walk around the truck, find some friends to talk to while you drive (Hands-free, of course. This is the one that works the best for me, it helps keep me alert having something to talk about with someone.). Find what works for you and use it to your advantage. If, however, you still feel "at-risk" as time goes on, move on to something else before you become a statistic, or make someone else a statistic.

 

You should probably fix yourself a hearty meal before laying down. I'll do that if my day time run turns into a night run

 

One thing that bugged me in OTR was sort of the brain not wanting to turn off for sleep. I think I had to address that by keeping my mind busy while driving listening to Audiobooks or Podcasts. TED Talks can be interesting or even Joe Rogan if he has good guests on. I like books and lectures that were complicated and challenging to understand.

Without that, it was tempting at the end of the day to fall into random reading online or catching up on news when I should be unwinding to get ready for sleep.