Truck driving is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle. Here’s a few tips to help you survive life on the road as a trucker.

• Stick to a healthy diet. It may be hard to eat healthy but not impossible. Find several restaurants with a good price to visit.
• Exercise daily. You will need to find time in between traveling to focus on your body to survive living on the road and not let it overwhelm you.
• Gain experience. Your initial few routes will most likely be challenging. This is because you’re new to the industry, but it’s crucial to keep going because over time on the road, you will gain more experience and feel more relaxed behind the wheel.
• Plan for challenging routes. When you’re initially starting out, you’re likely going to get jobs in desolate areas and big cities where delivering can be a challenge. Accounting for challenging travel can make things easier to deal with.
• Stay safe and avoid accidents. This is the most important tip for new truck drivers. Staying safe means packing things on your truck that you can use to ensure your safety while you travel, such as a first-aid kit. Staying alert is important too, so make sure you’re well-rested and always mentally ready for long journeys away from home.
• Pace yourself. It takes time to be a veteran truck driver. Not only does it take time to make up the mental and physical stamina of long travel hours away from home, but it even takes an extended period of time to improve your time management skills.
• Ask plenty of questions. When starting out, keep seeking to learn more and appreciate the finer points of this work by asking a lot of questions.
• Be independent. The easiest way to make a living as a truck driver is to try to do as much as you can yourself.
• Get used to be alone. Most of your time is spent alone with life on the road. Being oke with solitude is therefore an important skill to keep up.
• Be patient with yourself. You will likely make a lot of mistakes during your time on the road, and at times it might make you feel like you’re never going to get the hang of the job. Relax, be patient, it takes a lot of trial and error to get the job right.

Source: SoCal (11 Nov 2020)