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Dealing with Homesickness Over the Road

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dealing with homesickness over the road

A professional truck driver might spend a significant amount of time away from home. They miss out on family events, children’s milestones, and spending time with their friends. After driving for a while, it can become a part of a driver’s normal day-to-day reality. But for a new driver, or a driver new to being gone for days or weeks at a time, homesickness over the road can be a tough thing. If that’s something you’re dealing with, here are 4 helpful tips for dealing with homesickness over the road.

1. Recognize the symptoms of homesickness when they start

Feelings of anxiety or sadness can strike without warning. Or feeling sad when you’ve packed up and headed out for another week away from your family. One of the best ways to deal with homesickness is to recognize and acknowledge it as soon as it starts. Missing your home and family is normal. For many drivers it’s a reality of the profession. So it’s important to know that everyone feels this way sometimes, and it doesn’t help to try and push the feelings aside and not deal with them.

2. Stay busy with a new hobby

Find ways to keep yourself busy when you’re not driving. Picking up a new hobby is a great way to keep your mind busy. Learning how to do something new can help boost your mental state and drive away feeling of anxiety. Photography, staring an interesting collection or even picking up an instrument are great hobbies for truckers. Keeping your mind busy when you’re away from home can be a great help to your overall mental health.

3. Take your family with you

Make your home away from home, feel like home. Bring the family along with you over the road! Keep a few favorite pictures in the cab of your truck. Skype your family into scenic stops along the way. Or have them call you from special family gatherings or school milestones you’re going to miss. Make plans to call and check in each night when possible. Sometimes virtually being there with your family can be enough to help squash some of those feelings of homesickness while you’re away. In addition, some trucking companies also let you travel with your spouse. If this is important to you, be sure to ask this question when going through the interview process.

4. Travel with a pet

Bring your dog with you! If your carrier allows you to drive with your dog, bring him along. Travelling with a pet can help your well-being in many ways. It give you someone to talk to during the day, a reason to get some exercise each day, and a way to be social in an otherwise isolated environment. Having a constant reminder of home with you as you drive can help reduce those feelings of homesickness.

Also, by bringing your dog along with you, you have a perfect opportunity to interact with other drivers.

Having your dog with you when you’re at a truck, makes for an easy conversation starter with other truckers. Everyone loves to talk about their dogs and ask about other people’s dogs. This ensures a few times each day you’ve got a built-in reason to strike up a conversation with someone, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

As mentioned above, everyone gets sad and feels lonely sometimes. With any changes to your overall mood, it’s smart to be honest and open about your feelings. If you notice your feelings of homesickness are turning into something more extensive, be sure to reach out and tell someone. A little bit of homesickness vs. about with depression, could be better addressed with an honest conversation with your doctor.

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Dating a Truck Driver: The Inside Scoop

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Dating a Truck Driver: The Inside Scoop

Life on the road for a CDL truck driver can be pretty complicated. But what about the new boyfriend or girlfriend of a trucker? What’s life like for them when you’re on the road for days or even weeks at a time?

We reached out to our driver community and an expert in the field and asked them what they think about this topic. So when it comes to dating a truck driver, here’s the inside scoop!

Acceptance

Your truck driver is going to be gone for long periods of time. It’s simply part of the reality of the lifestyle that comes with the job. You must start with accepting long-distance as part of your relationship, and of your life once a trucker is a part of it.

Ellen Voie, President and CEO of Women in Trucking Association, says, “When dating a truck driver, the person at home needs to understand first that the driver will be away from home for periods of time. This means missed holidays, anniversaries, birthdays and the inability to RSVP for a wedding, make a dental appointment and so much more. It’s not easy, but it can be rewarding.”

If the relationship moves past just dating a truck driver, into an actual marriage, this reality does not change. Your trucker will still be working hard over the road. And they won’t be at home daily to help keep the house or help with the kids’ homework every night. Being away from home is simply the nature of the job for a trucker. Once you can accept that and make a relationship with a trucker work, then you’re off to a great start.

Commitment

Once you’ve found a great trucker to date, having a mutual commitment to the relationship will keep it going. Voie says “When I completed my Master’s Theses, ‘The Complex Identities of Women Married to Professional Drivers,’ I learned that the strength of a relationship has nothing to do with time or distance apart.”

Ellen went on to say, “Couples who see each other every day can break up just as easily as those apart. The secret is in the couple’s values. If both of them are determined to have a good relationship, they will both adhere to their values in being truthful with each other, not flirting or straying and not lying. They must be confident in the fact they can trust the partner.”

Working towards similar goals, sharing the same values, and overall having respect for each other is the only way to have a strong relationship. Once all of those pieces are in place, the distance and time apart from each other won’t matter as much.

Trust and Communication

Trust is important in any relationship, but it’s critical when dating a truck driver. While your driver is away, you have to trust in the relationship you’ve built. You have to know and understand that they’re doing the same. Any relationship without trust will probably not last long. Especially with one person in the relationship sleeping away from home for days, if not weeks, at a time.

We talked to Maria Hafner, owner of Confessions of a Truckers Wife, and she said, “The most important thing you need is trust and communication, without this you cannot date a truck driver. Life is lonely and solitary, so you do carry a bigger broader responsibility on your shoulders and if you can’t handle it, don’t try it.”

When there’s trust and good communication, you’ll probably find aligned values and that makes it easy to stay the course and and continue the relationship.

Support

Another other great pieces of advice for someone dating a truck driver, is to do what you can to show that you support your trucker. They have a very high stress job, and being away from home is not easy for them either. Show your support!

We spoke with another wife of a truck driver, Crystal, and she shared, “Another thing is to be super supportive! I have realized that they are by themselves in a tiny box just driving and really have no one to talk or interact with so your support means more to them than you think!”

If you’ve been in relationship with a truck driver, what’s your best piece of advice? Or what’s the best story you have to tell about dating a truck driver? Head on over to our Facebook page and let us know what you think.

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Long Distance Date Ideas for Truckers

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long distance date ideas for truckers

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, many truckers won’t be home to spend the holiday with their significant other. However, that doesn’t mean truck drivers can’t still celebrate.

Here are a few long distance date ideas for truckers that go beyond sending flowers and chocolates.

Have Dinner Together on Skype

Just because you may be miles away doesn’t mean you can’t take a few minutes to enjoy a great dinner together via Skype or FaceTime. Plan what you both will eat together, set up your computer or phone, and eat together as if you were right next to each other.

 

Share a Private Spotify Playlist

Are there songs that instantly remind you of your significant other? Put these on a Spotify playlist and share it with your significant other. Consider just keeping the playlist private between the two of you to be able to listen to throughout the year.

 

Plan Future Dates

Brainstorm a list of the 5 top dates you both want to do once you are home. Try to make sure to plan dates for all seasons and weather. Plan out the dates and even mark them down on the calendar to give you both something fun to look forward to.

 

Watch a Movie Together

Just because you’re not together doesn’t mean you can’t still watch a great movie together. Pick a movie out beforehand, plan the time you both will hit play, and talk about the movie together over the phone. Pop some popcorn, grab your favorite snacks, and enjoy!

 

Play 20 Questions

Get to know your significant other more by playing a quick game of 20 questions. Some questions could include where is your dream vacation spot, what would your perfect day look like, what was your dream job when you were in kindergarten, and what exotic pet would you have.

 

We wish truckers and their significant others across the country a very Happy Valentine’s Day and we hope these long distance date ideas help make the day special.

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